


The Perils of a Transatlantic Relationship

by Basnatural



Series: Perils [1]
Category: Bastille (Band), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: First Time, Fluff and Smut, Homophobia, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Masturbation, New Zealand, Oral Sex, Smut, Touring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-02-03 13:24:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 59,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basnatural/pseuds/Basnatural
Summary: A completely random meeting between two men no one would ever think of together, and the perils of having to live an ocean apart.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I am more than aware that this may upset a few people, but please bare with me!
> 
> Thanks to Basttop for helping me with the idea...any mistakes are my own as always.
> 
> Comments are always welcomed!

Chapter One

“It’s so fucking busy mate, why the hell are we here at this time of night?” the tall, slim man shouts after a group of his friends walking ahead of him, giggling and chatting away. They clearly don’t want to hear his moaning – something he had been doing since before he even got into the car to get to the festival ground that morning.

 

It had been a long drive up to Reading from London, and the band they were there to see wasn’t even playing until the next afternoon. But Dan had insisted on getting there the evening before, looking around and trying to have some fun during their down time.

 

Kyle hadn’t even been planning on going, but when his friend and lead singer rang him the previous night saying that someone had dropped out last minute and there was a spare ticket going, he wasn’t one to pass up the opportunity to spend time with the guy he was secretly lusting after.

 

Alright, so it wasn’t a well-kept secret the Kyle batted for both sides, and the overly friendly and tactile way he always was around Dan made the fans dream that one day the impossible might happen, and Kyle and Dan would end up together, but Dan was literally married to the job. He never even batted an eye – interested or otherwise – towards any other person seriously, and if Kyle ever got a taste of the man, he knew he wouldn’t be able to give it up. So, he settled for spending as much time as possible with him and attempting to find ‘the one’ elsewhere.

 

The group slowed down quickly and Kyle watched as Dan broke away from them and walked back to speak to him.

 

“Because, we are going to get shit faced, spend time in the VIP area and relax man, that’s why!” Dan says, throwing an arm around the taller man’s shoulders and patting him on the chest. Kyle looks at him sceptically.

 

“Yeah, whatever,” he mutters in response.

 

He watches as the older man runs back to the group of – mainly – girls. They had spent the majority of the drive drinking from cans of spirits and cheap beer, so none of them – apart from Sophie, who had been driving – were that sober.

 

Eventually they made it to the gate, got their wristbands and map and meandered their way through the crowds of festival goers, who all looked surprisingly spry and upright considering the music had started early afternoon.

 

Dan and Kyle were both stopped a few times by excited Bastille fans wanting photos. At one point Dan got over excited when he saw one of their tie-dyed ‘Chaos Planet’ t-shirts and insisted on having a photo with the poor girl.

 

“You do realise you have literally scarred that girl for life right?” Kyle says to the singer as they watch the teenager walk off in the opposite direction.

 

“Shut up! I was excited,” Dan argues, and Kyle just looks at him fondly and cuffs him round the head.

 

“Fine, so I’ll get into the spirit of this then!” Kyle finally shouts, and receives cheers from the rest of the group.

 

The crowd mainly consisted of people that Dan knew only. Kyle obviously knew Dan’s best friend Sophie, and there were a couple of girls from their management team and crew who had joined them for the weekend. There were only two other guys there and they were partners of the girls, and neither Dan nor Kyle knew them too well.

 

“Where are we going first?” He shouts to the rest of them, easily taking on the mantle of the life of the party. He hated being in public, and had extreme anxiety every time he went on stage and met fans, but once he had donned this persona, he was able to do anything. It was the main reason everyone thought he was non-committal and sarcastic all the time – it was the only way he was able to get through it without a major panic attack.

 

“Let’s go to the main stage,” Dan suggests and everyone agrees as they head over there. The darkness had now completely fallen and they were trying not to stand on holes in the grass and trip over rubbish dropped throughout the day.

 

Finally getting to the stage, they found themselves a free area and they all threw down coats and sat down. They weren’t too fussed about who they were seeing, they just wanted some atmosphere and noise until they could find someone they knew and talk themselves into the backstage tents for the after party.

 

Sophie and the two guys returned with a tray of plastic glasses filled with beer and handed them around everyone and they settled down waiting for the next show.

 

“Twenty One Pilots,” Erica – one of the crew – shouts out to them. They’re huge in the states at the moment.

 

Dan nods and Kyle hums in agreement. They had both heard of them, but they had never gone out of their way to listen to their stuff. In fact, if Kyle walked past them in the street he would be none the wiser who they were.

 

The lights go down and the whole field is silent in anticipation for what was to come. As usual for these festivals, all the die-hard fans were at the front with the people who were along to check out new stuff or just get drunk stood half way back.  

 

The music starts and Kyle sips from his beer, and sits expecting to have some interesting music and possibly a conversation or two during the set. They can’t see much but dots on the stage where they are sitting, but they can clearly see the large video screens, and if they wanted to they would be able to keep up with the show.

 

The backing tracks start, and the exuberant drumming kicks in and Kyle immediately compares the beats to their own Woody. He was good, but even Kyle could tell form the riffs being played and the heavy and intricate beats coming from the stage that this drummer was better. He looks up to the screens to see what is happening, but the camera is stuck on the rapping front man, standing at the back and quickly moving to the front with his percussion for the chorus.

 

Kyle doesn’t know what he was expecting, but this mix of charisma and talent wasn’t it. He is mesmerised by the man in the red beanie rapping like he was born to it, and then the man behind the drum kit with his face covered.

 

“Man, white boy can rap,” comes a comment from one of the guys in the group, but Kyle barely notices.

 

“Dude, you’re from Hertfordshire, don’t do ghetto,” Kyle murmurs in response.

 

The set continues and Kyle gets closer and closer to the rest of the crowd as it does. He watches in awe as he jumps from the trumpet back to the drums – admittedly something that Charlie can do with ease with his instruments, but he can’t imagine Woody being able to be so slick – and when he watches the guy do a backflip from the piano, and then crowd surf with a drum kit, he is completely sold on this band.

 

Even when the lights stop working and the stage is plunged into darkness, they carry on with the show. Kyle isn’t even sure that they would be able to do that what, with all of the keyboards and synths they use on stage. He watches in awe as the lead singer starts to crowd surf, but when he is dragged down into the crowd, both Kyle and Dan are up on their feet next to each other and trying to make sure that the man is alright.

 

They may not know the band or the members, but this is the one thing all performers dread when they venture into the crowd. It is the reason that Will, Kyle and Woody insisted on employing Dick to follow Dan as he made his way through the crowds on his sets. It wouldn’t be the first time grabbing teenage fans had groped underneath his clothes to get a touch of the awkward performer.

 

The crowd is silent and all they can hear from the back is the amplified sound of a stage hand asking whether he was alright. He eventually starts to emerge from the crowd and climbs to the top of a platform that was in the middle of the crowd. The drummer on stage – probably and most likely terrified at what might have happened to his band mate – gives him a beat to get up there. He arrives at the top and his white wife beater has been almost shredded and he appeared to be limping.

 

Kyle and Dan watch him stand at the top of the platform and call out to the crowd. The drummer continues, but almost immediately he shouts out;

 

“We’re done, Josh! It’s over!” and the lights go out on stage and the beat stops.

 

Dan looks at his watch to check the time.

 

“He’s called it. They’ve ended early. Fucking hell, poor guy. Can’t believe he tried that with no security,” Dan says almost in awe at the other singer’s balls in doing something like that.

 

“Yeah, you see why we need Dick now?” Kyle says to him, distractedly trying to see what was happening on the stage, but not being able to see anything.

 

“Hope he’s alright,” Dan looks at Kyle with worry in his eyes, and that brings the taller man back to the present and he looks at his friend.

 

“He climbed that mother fucking thing, I’m sure he’ll be fine mate,” he tells him and downs the rest of his glass. “What’s the plan for this party then?” he adds, suddenly wanting to get backstage and see if that drummer was back there. He still had no idea exactly what he looked like, but there was something almost magnetically drawing him towards the man.

 

“Oh, yeah I’ll give them a call, make sure they’re around,” and Dan fishes his phone out of his pocket and searches through the names for the one he was looking for. He says something quickly down the phone and then hangs up and looks back at the rest of them.

 

“Right guys, back of the DJ tent and we’ll get in,” he announces and there is a cheer as the rest of them gather their things.

 

At the back of the crowd Kyle smiles to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

“We’re done, Josh! It’s over.”

 

The lights on the stage go completely dark at that, and there is only a spotlight highlighting the platform in the crowd that Tyler was standing on top of to light his way safely to the ground.

 

As soon as the lights go out on the drummer, he jumps out from behind his set and storms towards the front of the stage. He has no idea what he will do, all he knows is he needs to get to his best friend and make sure he isn’t hurt.

 

Sitting at the back of the stage as he watched Tyler get pulled into the throng of people in front of him had been a nightmare come true but, knowing how much Tyler liked to keep the show going, as soon as he saw him start to climb the ladder, he knew he should continue the beat and encourage him skyward.

 

Josh reaches the edge of the stage and is literally about to jump off of it, when he feels a strong hand on his bare bicep, pulling him back into the darkness.

 

“Dude! Where do you think you’re going?” a shocked voice knocks him out of his head.

 

Josh turns round to see his good friend towering over him, and refusing to let go of his arm.

 

“Mark, _let me go_ I need to make sure Ty is alright,” he shouts over the roar of the crowd.

 

“What and let them get you too?” Mark exclaims. He was too good a friend to both of them, and just looking at his face he could see how shook up he was about this turn of events too. “Josh, stop being an idiot! Go and get dressed, I’ll make sure he’s safe,” he adds, pushing him towards the wings of the stage, where two assistants were waiting to escort him back to the dressing room.

 

It was only a short walk back to where all of their clothes and props were gathered, but the distance did nothing to calm the drummer down. He had pulled his red snapback off of his hat on the journey and was continually running his free hand through his faded pink hair.

 

The assistants opened the door for him and let him walk through and he managed a quick smile and nod of thanks at them as he shuts the door behind him. He stands staring at the closed door and then falls forward resting his forehead agains the cool metal.  He stands there for what feels like seconds and hours, before he is startled by a small _“Josh?”_ from behind him.

 

Spinning around quickly at the sound he relaxes immediately when he sees the small blond woman curled up in one of the director’s chairs adorning the room. Deep blue eyes were staring up at him and he could see the tear stains down her face from where she had clearly been crying. She was huddled into herself in her tight black jeans and Tyler’s oversized tour hoodie, and this made her seem much smaller and younger than she actually was. Suddenly Josh realises that he has to comfort his best friend’s wife – there was no time for him to think about himself.

 

“Jenna,” he says softly, and quickly walks to her to embrace her in a tight hug. He feels her shoulder’s start shaking against his bare chest as she sobs silently, obviously as frightened as he was. He places a very chaste and platonic kiss to the top of her head as he holds her.

 

“You know, it’s a good thing I’m so secure in my relationship, or I would think you were trying to take Josh away from me,” Tyler says sarcastically with a smirk in his voice from the doorway, and the two break apart quickly at the comment.

 

Josh looks over to him and instantaneously feels like a ten tonne weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The singer was smiling that ridiculous smile and was standing with his hands on his hips taking in the scene in front of him.

 

Josh shakes his head, smiles his perfect smile and walks over to Tyler and grabs him into a tight embrace.

 

“Dude, I’m practically naked here! No homo!” he exclaims and jokingly pushes away the drummer, cupping the back of his head.

 

Josh watches as he limps over towards his wife, who has gotten out of the chair and they passionately kiss. Not wanting to make the moment more awkward, Josh starts to potter around the room as the couple whisper to each other, and he grabs a towel and clean clothes before heading towards the shower.

 

“Josh!” Tyler calls out before he manages to get into the bathroom. “They took my shoe!” and they both giggle like teenagers as they look at his red socked food – completely shoeless.

 

“Dude, I’m glad that’s all they took!” he exclaims over his shoulder, and shuts the door on the pair.

 

\---

Admittedly Josh took longer than he would usually in the shower. Days of being stuck in the tour bus without _nice_ facilities combined with wanting to give his best friend and his wife some _alone_ time meant he in turn got to enjoy the constant stream of hot water.

 

He turns off the shower once he is done and quickly pulls on his boxers and jeans before grabbing his towel again to rub at his head before walking out to the others. He had left his t-shirt in the main room so he had to go out half naked – it wasn’t anything either of them hadn’t seen before.

 

Tyler and Jenna are still huddled together on a small sofa, waiting for Josh to finish, and as soon as he walks out they rush past hand in hand and slam the door to the bathroom behind them.

 

“I’ll see you in the bar then?” he shouts loudly to the solid partition.

 

“Whatever dude!” Tyler shouts back and Josh hears a high pitched squeal and giggle and he rolls his eyes.

 

He finds his t-shirt under a pile of their stage clothes that had clearly been brought back from the side of the stage and pulls it over his head – he ignores the fabric clinging to his still wet torso. He checks himself in the mirror and thinks for the thousandth time that day that he needs to dye his hair again – the faded pink look not doing it for him anymore – and pulls his grey beanie over his head to hide the wetness.

 

He hears more giggles and shouts coming from the bathroom along with splashing water and sighs to himself. He grabs his wallet and phone from the console at the mirror and quickly escapes the room before he hears any more than he needed to… _again._

He rushes out of the door without looking and walks straight into the tall, solid frame of his other dark haired best friend about to walk into the room he had just vacated.

 

“Seriously, man, you don’t want to go in there,” he tells him quickly and pulls him away.

 

“Again?” Mark cries, exasperatedly.

 

“Hey, I’m the one who’s around them all the time, feel sorry for me!” Josh replies, as they walk quickly down the corridor, faint banging and bass in the background from the headliners of the evening.

 

They pull open the doors into the tent that had been erected at the back of the permanent building that housed the back stage area and dressing rooms and almost literally fall into the backstage party.

 

Josh spots a red leather couch and a glass coffee tablet set up as a seating area that was vacant and elbows Mark in the ribs.

 

“Grab it,” he says and nods over to the free space. Mark gets the idea and jogs over to it to claim it before anyone else could.

 

The tent was mobbed with the acts that were performing that day and the following and their crew and friends. Josh thought he had seen a few people that clearly looked like groupies or fans, but he couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t that he didn’t love and appreciate the people who listened to them, but sometimes he really needed space and time away from fans. This was especially true after what had happened that evening, he didn’t want to get into any arguments or say anything he may – very probably – regret later.

 

He stands at a tiny, but empty, space at the bar and waits to be noticed by one of the five different bar staff run off of their feet. He pulls his wallet out of his pocket and finds his card and taps it absentmindedly on the wooden top. He’s staring into space when one of the young girls walks over to him to take his order, smiling brightly.

 

“Hey! Yeah, can I get two Red Bulls, large glass of white wine and a bottle of any beer. Whatever you’ve got he’ll be fine,” he adds with a laugh and a smile, and he watches the girl run off and fulfil his order for him.

 

Josh goes back to drumming a little tune on the surface in front of him when he realises someone is backing into him.

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” a voice says as Josh looks up to say something in reply, his words get stuck in his throat.

 

The man in front of him was significantly taller than he was, and slim – definitely slim. But as he gazed into the face in front of him, his breath is taken away by the deep chocolate brown colour of the other man’s eyes. He was mesmerised by the depths of them and he could feel the warmth almost radiating back at him as he continued to look.

 

There were three people in the entire world that knew that Josh wasn’t completely straight. One of them was currently sitting on a bright red sofa twenty metres behind him and the other two were – presumably – getting laid in the dressing room. And the thing that these three people all knew about Josh’s interests were, that while he liked the wholesome, all American look in girls, in men…well in men he liked height and beards. Possibly the antithesis of each other, but that’s what made him who he was.

 

And this man standing in front of him, or towering over him, with his perfect beard and, again with those eyes, was almost the sight of perfection for Josh. And what’s more, he is staring back.

 

“Excuse me, nineteen pounds fifty please,” comes a voice from next to the drummer, and he jumps at the sound.

 

“Sorry! Gosh, sorry,” he rambles and looks down at his hands in shock, before noticing his card still in his hand, and handing it over to her.

 

She inserts it into the machine and holds it out to him to enter his PIN before tearing off the receipt and giving both back to him.

 

“Thank you!” he shouts at her retreating figure and gets nothing in return. “Oops,” he mumbles to himself and sighs loudly. He hears a chuckle from next to him and he looks up. The man is still there.

 

“Um, so hi, I’m Kyle,” the man – Kyle – says to him after a few more seconds of intense staring.

 

“You’re tall,” comes out of Josh’s mouth before he can stop it. He squeezes his eyes shut immediately and bites down hard on his bottom lip in embarrassment. He can feel the heat rising up his neck. After a beat he adds; “I mean, hi! I’m Josh! And a complete dumb ass apparently.”

 

Kyle laughs again, and the noise is like music to Josh’s ears.

 

“Yeah, er, I saw you play earlier, you were amazing,” he says to Josh and the drummer’s eyes immediately flick down to the man’s wrist to see if he had a performer’s wristband on.

 

He sees the bright pink of the regular weekend pass and his heart sinks. Shit. A fan, dammit. He sighs and feels his shoulders drop until he is almost slouching. He sinks back into his public persona and gives the man a generic smile.

 

“Oh, so are you wanting a picture, or want me to sign something…?” he trails off, letting the gorgeous, tall man ask for what he wants before he never sees him again.

 

“Oh, no! I’m not a fan!” the guy rushes to say to him. “Well, I suppose I am a fan now…but what I meant to say is I’m here to see some friends of mine who’re performing tomorrow and I caught your set.” Josh looks at him, suddenly a bit more interested.

 

“Friends?” he asks, and Kyle turns around and looks towards a group at the back wall.

 

“Yeah! Over there,” he points and Josh sees a large group of people with three girls who looked familiar to him.

 

“Oh, you know Haim?” he asks, more interested now. “How do you know them?”

 

“Oh, we did a track with them once. Dan,” and he points out a dark haired guy with a quiff on his head who was currently giving Este Haim a ride on his back, “he kinda gets to know everyone.”

 

“You’re in a band then?”

 

Kyle starts to reply, when suddenly two hands grab him on the shoulders and push him forcefully downwards.

 

“Bro, Mark is dying of thirst over there! He says you’ve been here forever! Hi! I’m Tyler,’ he adds and shoves his hand out to Kyle, who shakes it politely.

 

“I’ll be there in a minute Ty,” Josh says forcefully and tries to communicate something through his eyes to his best friend, but he wasn’t having any of it.

 

“Nope, drinks now. Jenna needs some wine,” he says and pushes in front of the couple and picks up the two tins of Red bull leaving the other two drinks for the drummer. “Nice to meet you Kyle, Josh has somewhere to be!” and with that he walks off.

 

“I suppose…”

 

“Yeah, I should head back too,” Kyle says and with a final smile the pair part.

 

Josh storms after his singer and barges into his back.

 

“Seriously? What was that man?” he demands as the walk back to the seating area.

 

“Josh, the last thing you need is a one-night stand, especially if you want to stay in that huge decked out closet of yours,” Tyler tells him.

 

Josh sets the beer and wine down on the table and settles into a chair with his friends. He knows Tyler is right, but it doesn’t stop his gaze returning bac to the loud group at the back of the tent. And it doesn’t stop him noticing how the tall bearded man in staring back with the same lust filled look on his face.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

“Yeah, I should head back too.”

 

Kyle walks backwards a few steps, smiling widely at the other man and chews at the side of his cheek, as he finally turns and walks back to the group he was meant to be spending time with.

 

He quickly looks back again and sees Josh ram into the back of the singer who had dragged him away and he smirks to himself. He understood the man’s frustration. He hadn’t known whether the man was interested in men when he had gone over to speak to him, but there was definitely an attraction between the two of them. He wanted to explore it further, and he was damned if he was going to let Dan and his crowd of giggling girls get in the way of that. Or Tyler for that matter.

 

He gets to the loud, laughing group too quickly and runs his hand over his beard to straighten out any stray hairs. He claps his hand on Dan’s shoulder to let his friend know he was back.

 

“Hey!” Dan greets when he sees him. He had a beaming smile on his face and was gesticulating wildly with his free hand whilst talking to the girl in front of him.

 

“Hey back,” he says quietly. “Hey Alana,” he adds to the dark haired girl Dan had been chatting away to.

 

“Where’ve you been?” Dan asks him loudly, still grinning. He was clearly quite far past wasted now, getting ridiculously loud and giggly.

 

“Bar,” he replies shortly, trying to pay more attention to the drummer staring back at him than his own friend.

 

“And you didn’t get us drinks?” Dan exclaims. “Aw, mate, sad!” he then proceeds to literally pout until Kyle turns and looks at him full in the face.

 

“Mate, don’t you think you’ve had enough already?” Kyle says to him, chuckling at the singer trying to swipe to open his phone, a look of pure and utter concentration on his face, until he realises he hasn’t got it turned on, and a burst of laughter erupts from his chest. Kyle smiles, eyes wide and shakes his head.

 

“Hey!” the lively dark blond bass player from the group comes over loudly to see them. “I just saw _you_ talking to that hot emo, punk drummer dude from that band,” she says, and punctuates the word ‘you’ with a pointed finger into Kyle’s chest.

 

“Did you now?” Kyle asks, a small smile on his face, and trying to act like he has no idea what she was talking about.

 

“Yes, I did!” she says and wraps her arms around his middle, the man being so tall that the top of her head only reaches his shoulder, and she rests her head down on his chest.

 

“Oh god,” he mutters as he sees a tall thin woman with a cameraman and microphone heading towards them. He tries quickly to extricate himself from the woman’s grasp – one so no rumours start circulating around the internet and secondly so that _Josh_ didn’t get the wrong idea.

 

“Well, well, Bastille Dan and Kyle, fancy seeing you here,” the Geordie girl says into her microphone as she gets closer.

 

“At least try and act sober?” Kyle hisses to Dan and gets a punch in the side for his trouble. “You’ll regret it tomorrow,” he sing-songs in return.

 

“Donna!” Kyle says suavely, “Long time no see,” he tries to ingratiate himself to the interviewer, trying desperately to get her to engage with him instead of the extremely inebriated man standing next to him.

 

“Just the two of you then?” She asks and hands off the microphone to Dan. Kyle internally sighs and now has to just hope for the best.

 

“Yep! Down time, came to listen to some music, hang out with friends,” Dan explains, sounding surprisingly with it, considering.

 

“So who have you come to listen to?” she asks, ever being the good host and trying to get some tasty gossip.

 

“Us!” Comes a shout from behind the pair, and Kyle feels two arms wrap around his neck and sees the same thing happening to his friend next to him.

 

‘ _For crying out loud,_ ’ he thinks to himself, and again tries to get out of the girl’s arms. Dan on the other hand lets Danielle manhandle him and he slides his arm around her waist as well. Kyle knows by the morning there will be rumours galore about both of them.

 

“Oh so you’re hanging around for tomorrow then? Have you seen any of the acts today?”

 

“We saw Twenty One Pilots earlier,” Kyle pipes up quickly and Donna moves the mike over to him, clearly not expecting him to say anything. “They were _sick_!” he exclaims quickly and does his normal exuberant reaction, to take the spot light away from anything that Dan might be doing to cause problems later.

 

“Oh so you like that kind of music then?” the woman asks, conversationally, and Kyle nods his head furiously with wide eyes.

 

“Yeah, that and he has a huge crush on the drummer,” Dan pipes up from beside the keyboard player. Kyle’s mouth drops open and he raises his eyebrows until they almost fall off of his head.

 

“This sounds like juicy gossip!” Donna cries quickly and motions for the camera to get a close up on the pair.

 

“Oh, yeah,” Kyle says sarcastically. “Of course I do! Only because Woody’s taken though,” he adds with a laugh, to shake off the accusation. He stamps down hard on the heel of his friend and Dan cries out in pain. “Oh, dude, you really need to be more careful. He’s so clumsy…”

 

“Well, it’s been good speaking to you boys,” the blond says to them and quickly moves on to another group and leaves them alone.

 

Kyle glares at his friend and Dan looks back at him completely innocently, clearly not knowing what he had said that was wrong.

 

“Cheers, mate,” he says and over-emphasises the ‘t’ on the word.

 

“What did I do?” Dan exclaims.

 

“Not knowing when not to talk seems like a good place to start, don’t you think?”

 

“Why are you shouting guys?” Sophie says as she comes towards them. “Dan, we’re getting tired and we still have to set up the tents.”

 

Kyle explodes with laughter at the statement and Dan and his fried look at him confused.

 

“There is no way in hell that you are going to get me to camp,” he tells them.

 

“Kyle…” Dan starts.

 

“Oop!” Kyle replies and holds up a hand to silence him. “Car keys,” he adds simply and puts his hand out, waiting for what he had requested. The thick pile is put in his palm, and he grasps them tight. “Thank you, see you all in the morning.”

 

The group groan as they realise they all have to get going and Kyle stands out of there way, smiling and waving facetiously as each person passes.

 

“Will you be alright?” Dan asks, his speech still slurring as he goes.

 

“Mate go and sleep it off. I’ll see you in the morning.”

 

After he watches his good friend leave finally, he pulls his phone out and immediately sends him a What’s App text to say that he’s sleeping in the car. One thing he has learned over the years is that he never remembers what has happened when he is drunk.

 

Putting his phone back in his pocket, he swings the keychain around on his finger and catches the bunch again before putting them into his jeans and walking towards the bar. The crowd had thinned down somewhat, and he was able to easily stand and be served by the now less frantic staff.

 

“Pint of diet coke, and can I get a cappuccino to go?” he asks the server and looks back towards where his favourite person was sitting – can of Red Bull sitting in front of him. “Ooh, and Red Bull?” he shouts to the kid serving him and he gets a nod in return.

 

He gets his order quicker than he thought he would and manages to carry the can and coffee in one hand and his diet coke in the other. He walks carefully over to the bright red sofas and stands next to one of the people he hadn’t met already.

 

“Uhm, hi! Again. Er, I’ve been abandoned by my friends and you have a free seat, can I join you guys?” he asks with a small, self-deprecating smile and chews his bottom lip.

 

“Yeah, yeah, dude, come and sit down,” Josh pipes up almost too quickly and shoves Mark’s feet off of the single leather chair that was left with them. Kyle sits down with an even shyer look and nod to the man. “You know Tyler,” and the brown haired man sitting on the other end of the sofa nods a hello at him before looking at him suspiciously. Kyle puts his hand up in a wave, but with the look he puts his hand down again. “And that gorgeous woman next to him is his wife Jenna, and this is our friend, Mark.”

 

Jenna pounces forward to shake his hand with a smile and a ‘nice to meet you,’ and Mark does a quick salute hello.

 

“Kyle, hi,” he says to them awkwardly. He goes to put his drinks down on the table, and then realises exactly what he has in his hand. “Oh, thought you might want another one,” he adds and hands the unopened can of caffeine to the drummer.

 

Josh looks surprised at the object and then takes it from him, with a beaming smile. Kyle’s breath hitches when he sees the perfect teeth and dimples in his cheeks, and he knows right there that he is done for.

 

_“Shit,”_ he says quietly, and almost everybody misses it except for Josh, who’s light brown eyes flick up to his own, and he sees the pupils blow slightly wider.

 

“So Kyle, what is it you do for a living?” Tyler says, interrupting them for the second time that night. Kyle hears the questions, but he is so distracted by the beautiful vivid colours on the drummer’s arms, and the hotness of the guy’s nose ring, that he barely pays attention.

 

“Huh?” he says, and he feels the embarrassment in his face as he scratches the back of his neck and at the hair on his chin before being brought back to reality. “Oh, sorry, I’m a synth player in a band.” He tells the singer and he watches as Tyler’s eyes widen slightly and he nods.

 

“Oh, cool,” he says, genuinely interested. “Anyone we might have heard of?”

 

“Uhm, Bastille?” Kyle asks, more than states and Josh slaps him on the arm quickly.

 

“You’re the _Pompeii_ guys! I knew that other guy looked familiar!” he says, almost excitedly and he giddily looks over at his friend. Kyle thinks its adorable.

 

“Oh yeah!” Tyler says, almost as excited as the drummer. “Yeah, your songs are awesome.”

 

“Cheers,” Kyle says, not knowing what else to say. They weren’t his songs. He wasn’t the talent in the band, but he could pass it along to Dan later. He takes a sip of his pint glass slowly, not knowing what else to do.

 

“Well, I think me and Jenna are gonna head back to the hotel,” Tyler says, and stands and stretches. “You two want a ride or are you gonna stay here?”

 

Mark stands to go, but Josh just looks at Kyle quickly and then at his friends.

 

“Nah, bro, I’ll stay here. Might get few hours on the bus, though, so don’t worry if you don’t see me,” he says to them and he gets a knowing look from his friend. Kyle watches as Tyler walks over to Josh and hugs him tightly. He can see from the wide eyed look on Josh’s face that he has whispered something, but the background noise is too loud he can’t hear what it was. The singer pulls away and pats him on the shoulder.

 

“Nice to meet you again Kyle,” he says and then grabs his wife’s hand and the three of them leave the pair behind.

 

Finally alone, the two look at each other again, and then chuckle awkwardly. Kyle looks around the room and notices that while a number of people had left, it was still full of journalists and people that are far more interested in what other people were up to.

 

“Do you want to get out of here?” he hears, and he swings his head back to the other man and sees a look of uncertainty in his face, like he wasn’t sure exactly what Kyle would be looking for.

 

“Oh my god, yes,” Kyle says and they both smile widely at each other and stand up simultaneously.

 

Kyle downs the rest of his coke and picks up his coffee. He watches as Josh grabs his belongings and lets him lead the out of the room. They open the double doors, and as soon as the babble of the crowd behind them quietens into the distance, Kyle reaches out his free hand and brushes the tips of Josh’s fingers with his own. Much to his surprise, the drummer curls his own fingers and catches hold of Kyle’s. He doesn’t let go and they almost jog to the band’s tour bus just like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I know this is a weird pairing, but thanks for reading!
> 
> Kudos and comments (good and bad :p) are welcome! x


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so chapter 4 guys...thanks for reading and bearing with me!
> 
> All comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated : )

Chapter Four

Josh hits the button on the outside of the bus and the door hisses open. Thankfully he had the spare key for it, as there was no way it would have opened if it hadn’t been sensed nearby. The inside lights flicker on to a warm hue when the two men walk on board, and they head to the main living area on the ground level.

 

The two had dropped each other’s hand as they got to the bus and Josh watches as Kyle now cups his cardboard coffee cup with both hands, and observes his new surroundings.

 

“Wow, this place looks a lot neater than any tour bus we ever had,” Kyle says to him, and Josh just huffs a light laugh.

 

“Yeah, well Ty and Jen disappear off to hotels every chance they get now, so it’s mainly just my stuff lying around,” he tells the other man and picks up a red snapback and a denim jacket of his that were lying on the built in corduroy sofa.

 

“Yeah, well that’s fair enough,” Kyle tells him, and walks sheepishly over to the couch and perches on the edge of it. Josh watches as he takes a sip from the drink and then licks his lips. He feels a groan escape him, but manages to cover it up with a loud, forced coughing fit. He sits down quickly in the opposite corner and brings his knees up to his chest after kicking his boots off.

 

He watches as the tall man takes another drink and then sits back into the corner, turning to face him. The piece of furniture wasn’t large, so with Kyle’s long leg bent up in front of him, Josh’s socked foot was almost touching him again. He looks self-consciously at his feet and curses himself internally that he couldn’t be bothered to find a matching pair.

 

His attention is quickly taken by Kyle’s hand absentmindedly tapping on his knee. He is struck by exactly how long his fingers are, and he is obsessed with the rings he had and the selection of bands on his wrist. Josh had never really been one for anything other than his watch and his piercings, but on Kyle – well he could really see the attraction.

 

“So is it weird with Jenna touring around with you guys then?” Kyle asks, suddenly breaking the comfortable silence that had grown up around them and he takes another sip of his coffee.

 

“Yeah…” Josh replies, making the word longer than it should be. He had never told anyone exactly how left out he felt now that Jenna was with them for some of their trips. He had just gotten so used to having Tyler around, and now that he wasn’t, he missed his best friend. Kyle laughs at the comment and Josh’s eyes snap to his face.

 

“Not jealous, but miss him?” Kyle asks and Josh’s eyes widen at the exact thing he had been thinking.

 

“Got it in one,” he replies, intrigued and falling even further for this man.

 

“Yeah, would probably be the same if Dan ever got married. Or found someone,” he adds almost wistfully.

 

“Fans and interviewers always ask if we’re together,” Josh laughs. “Even though they know he’s married and have seen the wedding pictures! It’s like they’re obsessed.”

 

“Oh my god! Me and Dan too!” Kyle says and laughs almost hysterically – and Josh joins in because with that beautiful smile and laugh, you would have to have a heart of stone not to.

 

The laughter carries on for a few moments longer, and by the time the two of them calm down the two of them are almost mirrored in their own corners. Josh’s left arm is on the back of the couch, and suddenly he notices that Kyle’s arm is coming down to rest on top of his. He looks up at the other man to see what he is doing and sees that his face is trained on his own. His smile stills on his face, and he feels soft stroking to the top of his arm and his breath hitches.

 

Two sets of brown eyes lock on each other and they both watch as their pupils dilate, making both sets more black than anything else.

 

Josh watches as Kyle leans to the side and put his cup on the table and turns back to face him again. When he moves again it’s to move closer to the drummer and his hand runs up the bare forearm and onto his bicep. Josh doesn’t move, but is keenly aware of the arm of the sofa behind him. He bites at his lower lip like he had done at the bar earlier and he watches as Kyle’s eyes flick down to his mouth and back up again. He is closer now, so close that his breath is now ghosting over Josh’s face.

 

“Am I reading this wrong?” Kyle asks him, his hand now cupping the back of Josh’s head and pulling the beanie off of his head. He searches for any hint of denial in the drummer’s face.

 

A slight shake of Josh’s head is all it takes for Kyle to surge forward and their lips are connected. All Josh can feel is the warmth and slight roughness of the other man’s mouth and he lets the taller man push in towards him. The hand behind his neck starts stroking at the shorter hair it finds there, and Josh whimpers softly, letting Kyle lick into his mouth for the first time and as soon as their tongues meet, the spark of electricity ignites between them for real and the energy cranks up a notch.

 

Josh manages to inch his way down the couch so his head is resting on the seat cushion, all the time learning every inch of the other man’s mouth. Kyle pulls off ever so slightly and bites at his lower lip, sucking it into his own mouth. The sensation is amazing to Josh and a filthy moan erupts from him, causing Kyle to smirk at the achievement.

 

Kyle rearranges them so that he is now straddling the other man’s hips and he reaches back down to kiss him again. Josh grabs at Kyle’s sides, and pulls his shirt up at the back so he can finally get his hands on the smooth skin he has yet to feel. Kyle gets the message and pulls his shirt and his undershirt over his head and throws it behind him.

 

Josh takes the moment they are apart to look at the man above him and he takes in the smooth skin, sparse dark chest hair and erect dusky nipples. He can’t help himself, but he arches upwards and takes one of them in his mouth and sucks hard, causing Kyle to cry out in pleasure. Kyle pushes him back down onto the sofa with both hands on his shoulders and Josh watches as he looks down on him with hooded eyes.

 

“Oh my god, you’re stunning, just like this,” he murmurs and dips his head down to kiss him again. “But I really need to see you topless close up,” he adds and pulls up the t-shirt, almost ripping it off of the other man’s body.

 

As soon as the top is off, Kyle has latched onto Josh’s neck and starts to trail kisses down it towards his chest. He sucks equally at each nipple in turn, before continuing the trail down towards the man’s navel. He licks into his belly button, and Josh didn’t even realise that was something he could enjoy, but an almost pornographic whine comes from him at the sensation and he locks eyes with the man again.

 

“Pants off,” Josh breaths and Kyle looks a bit confused at the language barrier before he realises what the man meant when his hands fly to his belt and button of his jeans. He does exactly the same to Josh and they can’t even get the garments off completely.

 

Both men have hugely tented underwear by this point, but they can’t stop touching each other for more than a few seconds. Josh is reaching up to kiss Kyle again, and so in order to get them both the relief they craved, Kyle uses his height and position advantage to grind down into the man below him.

 

A pace is created quickly and they gyrate forcefully against each other. Panting quickly between sloppy tongue filled kisses – the noises fill the coach, and Josh can feel the sheen of sweat on his upper body. He lifts his hips upwards one final time before his vision whites out and his release spills out of him quickly. Kyle follows quickly with a loud moan, and his legs tremble and he collapses to the side of the man under him.

 

The fast breathing continues for a number of minutes and nothing is said while both of the men come down from their high. Kyle’s arm is draped across Josh’s body and Josh caresses his arm, mapping out random patterns as he waits for his heart to slow down.

 

“That was amazing,” Kyle murmurs into Josh’s neck, and bites down and the juncture between his neck and his shoulder.

 

“Mmhmm,” is all Josh can coherently get out as he melts further into the other man’s touch.

 

“Well that really answers my main question,” Josh hears and he leans backwards so that he can look at the man who had given him one of the best sexual experiences he had had.

 

“What’s that?” he asks confused.

 

“Was wondering if you were into men, to be honest,” Kyle says to him and they both giggle.

 

Josh shakes his head and kicks his jeans off of his feet before rolling off of the couch.

 

“Mmm!” cries Kyle. “Come back!”

 

Josh cocks his eyebrow at his and runs his hand through his hair with a smirk on his face.

 

“Dude, getting wipes, hang on,” he says and disappears up the stairs quickly. He runs back down not even a minute later with a pack of baby wipes, but is wearing new dark purple HOM underwear. He throws the pack at the man lying on the sofa and then disappears to throw some water on his face.

 

When he emerges from the small bathroom closet, he sees that Kyle has put his jeans back on, but is lying on the sofa in the same position and looking through his phone. He sees the moment Kyle realises he’s back, because he gives him a wide beaming smile and puts his arms out. Josh can’t help but essentially leap back onto the sofa and cuddle into the long arms.

 

He couldn’t believe that he had met this man a matter of hours earlier, but already these arms made him feel safe and warm. He sighs gently and closes his eyes.

 

“So do I at least get to get your number?” He hears in his ear, and he looks up at Kyle.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking for a one-night stand…” Kyle’s voice trails off and Josh can see the trace of hops dying from the other man’s eyes.

 

Josh moves quickly and sits up on the side of the seat and puts his head in his hands. He feels his entire demeanour changing and he becomes immediately more withdrawn as he tries to figure out what to say.

 

“Kyle…I’m not out. And my family is super religious, so it’s not something that they’ve ever really talked about…”

 

“Josh. Hey _Josh_ ,” Kyle says and when he repeats the name Josh looks round to see him sitting next to him on the couch. “I’m not out either.” At that Josh looks shocked. He can’t believe that this amazing and wonderful man hasn’t been snapped up already. “Look, all I’m saying is let’s see where this thing goes? You know, see each other while you’re over here? We’re in America soon so can see you when we’re there? I think we could be something really great you know?”

 

Josh looks at Kyle, and the warm smile, chocolate eyes and perfect beard. He smiles warmly and sees the automatic effect on the other man. He makes a decision immediately.

 

“At least say you have an iPhone so we can FaceTime?”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me!
> 
> Please enjoy and let me know what you think please!! xx

Chapter Five

“Josh. Josh. Jishwa. _Josh_!”

 

Josh wakes up with a start and sits bolt upright as soon as he does. He hears a clatter and looks over on the floor to see Tyler sprawled over the small make shift coffee table. Josh lets out a loud groan and rakes his hand down his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he does and taking in his surroundings.

 

He was still on the sofa and tucked in tightly under a duvet from one of the beds upstairs, where he had clearly fallen asleep in the early hours of that morning. Him and Kyle had done nothing else other than lie in each other’s space and ask stupid questions to learn everything about each other, but Josh had finally felt his eyes slide close for the final time at about three in the morning.

 

“What on earth are you doing down there?” He asks Tyler, still half asleep and confused. He looks to his other side and notices that the other man was no longer there and he feels his heart sink in realisation.

 

“Your freaky drummer’s arms threw me off!” Tyler pouts in reply and he rolls onto his hands and knees in order to get up again. “Well I take it last night didn’t end like you hoped? Sorry Jish.”

 

“Hmm?” the drummer replies, not really paying attention and picking up his phone from the side next to his head to check the time.

 

’10:07’ shines back at him. And then underneath:

 

_‘You have one (1) new message’_

_Kyle – Morning handsome. Had to get away early to meet up with the rest of the rabble. Didnt want to wake you. You looked too cute. Have a good gig and ill text later_

Josh feels the corners of his mouth rise into a small smile and is about to hit the reply button.

 

“Why you smiling?” Tyler asks nosily, and reaches out to pluck the phone out of the other man’s hand.

 

Josh catches the movement quickly and immediately moves his phone out of reach and away from his friend.

 

“Josh! Let me see! Give it here!” Tyler shouts and lunges forward. Josh turns so his back is to the other man and curls up on himself to protect his mobile.

 

“Tyler! Stop it!” he yells and Tyler continues to climb on his back and try to get to his hands. “I’ll put it somewhere you won’t go!” Josh threatens.

 

“Dude, I’ll go anywhere!” retorts Tyler and Josh immediately puts the handset down the front of his boxers and escapes of the couch when Tyler looks at him shocked.

 

The two of them are at a stand-off at either end of the living room, breathing heavily from exertion and Josh puts his hands on his hips and just cocks an eyebrow at the singer.

 

“Dude that won’t stop me!” Tyler eventually admits and strides over to his friend and puts his hands out to the band of Josh’s boxers before Josh starts to fight back.

 

“Don’t you dare put your hands down there!” Josh screams and gets hold of his friend’s wrists before wrestling him back onto the couch.

 

“TIME OUT!” A shout comes from the door of the bus. Both boys stop what they were doing and turn their heads towards the voice.

 

Jenna is standing at the entrance with a hand full of coffee and a paper bag of what smells like warm donuts.

 

“Food?” Tyler and Josh ask at exactly the same time, and when Jenna nods they immediately break up their fight and stand up as if nothing had happened.

 

“You two are completely ridiculous,” she announces, but completely used to the craziness between the men.

 

“Yeah and that’s why you love us!”  Tyler tells her with a kiss on the cheek and takes the cups from her.

 

Josh scoffs at the statement and runs up the steps to where his clothes are stored. He gets to his suitcase and pulls out track pants and pulls them on. He has a quick look in the mirror to straighten is hair and starts to walk down the stairs again. He picks up a black hoodie on the way past Tyler’s bed and pulls it on as he walks down the stairs.

 

“Is that mine?” Tyler asks as he watches Josh walk back down and pick up a cup before throwing himself back down on the sofa. He can still feel the heat from where he had been sleeping. He just shrugs back and pulls the cuffs over his hands so he doesn’t burn himself with the heat from the drink.

 

Suddenly the engine from the bus starts up and they realise they are about to head off. Mark jumps on through the door just before it shuts and collapses next to Josh on the couch.

 

“Everyone else head off this morning?” Josh asks, blowing on the liquid before taking a sip. He watches as everyone nods sedately ad they all sit in comfortable silence.

 

“So how was last night?” Tyler finally asks and earns himself a glare from his best friend.

 

“Seriously?” Josh says and just looks at him. Jenna smacks her husband on the shoulder.

 

“What? Yes, seriously,” he adds to Josh and just looks at him.

 

“You don’t want to know any of the details do you?” Josh asks him again and Tyler shifts uncomfortably in his chair before looking at his friend again.

 

“Yes!” He says again emphatically. “You were the one who said you wanted to stay away from that side of life for the moment, and then the next thing I know you’re staying out til all hours with a guy you just met!”

 

“Oh, so this is you looking out for me?” Josh asks, sarcastically, and takes another drink.

 

“No this is me wanting to know all the juicy gossip from my best friend who may or may not have gotten laid last night,” Tyler says and looks at Josh again.

 

“Well, unlike some people, I don’t kiss and tell,” Josh says and gets up off of the sofa and stumbles up the stairs to the sleeping area as the coach makes its way across the fields and onto the proper roads.

 

He throws himself down on to his bunk and feels comfortable for the first time since he had woken up. He pulls his phone out of his boxers and grabs his headphones before plugging them in and looking up Bastille on his Spotify account. He puts them over his head and presses shuffle before turning the music up as loud as it can go. Finally looking back at his messages, he hits the reply and starts typing. He starts and deletes four messages before settling on what he sent.

 

_Josh – had a great night last night. Hope we can do it again soon. Just leaving. Have a good time today_

He sighs lightly and outs his phone down and hugs his pillow tightly. He shuts his eyes and lets the music take over his mind. He recognised the first song he was listening to, but he can’t remember when he actually heard it. He suddenly feels a dip in the mattress next to him and he looks up quickly, thinking that Tyler is back for round two.

 

Jenna is sitting next to him with a soft look on her face. Josh turns onto his side and props his head up on his hand and looks at her after he pulls his headphones off. He raises his eyebrows and looks at her, waiting for her to talk.

 

“Ignore him,” she says finally and Josh just huffs a laugh.

 

“I am, that’s why I’m up here,” he tells her. “He’s right though. I did want to kind of ignore that part of me so I get why it’s a big thing for him,” he tells her. They sit quietly for a while longer.

 

“So what’s he like?” she asks and Josh can’t help the beaming smile that crosses his face. “Looks like he makes you happy?”

 

Josh sits and thinks for a moment before answering.

 

“Yeah. It’s weird you know? I’ve not even known him an entire day, but it’s like I know him already you know?” and he watches as Jenna nods slowly, listening to what he has to say. “There’s only one other person that’s ever happened with,” he continues, and Jenna cuts him off before he even gets to say the name.

 

“Tyler,” she says. It isn’t even a question, but more a statement of fact. Josh just nods in response. “C’mon then, tell me about him!”

 

Josh grins again and all he can do is talk about all the things he and Kyle had shared the night before.

 

\---

By the time the gig had finished it was close to half nine in the evening and the headlining act was starting to get ready to hit the stage.

 

In comparison to Reading, Leeds went off without a hitch. Tyler and Josh had decided to ignore what had been said on the bus and just get on with the show, the only hitch being when the stage managers and festival organisers decided they had to sign a contract that meant they wouldn’t be able to get out into the crowd.

 

Tyler was furious and spent the entire show apologising to the crowd, but at least Josh didn’t have to worry about him disappearing into a big black hole of grabbing hands and assaulting fans after what he had seen the night before. The set finishes with Trees and Josh is nearly asleep on his feet by the time they bow and wave to the crowd.

 

“You look exhausted, man,” Tyler whispers over the noise as the take the centre of the stage.

 

“Not much sleep last night, dude,” Josh replies to him, and smirks when he sees the appalled look on his friends face. “See, told you you didn’t really want to know,” he chuckles and drags him by the hand off of the stage into the wings.

 

“You asshole!” Tyler shouts after him.

 

“Language! What would your momma say?” Josh jokes back and walks backwards staring at Tyler as he says it with a shit eating grin on his face.

 

Suddenly he backs into something solid, but with a bit of give, and automatically knows that it is another person. He stops in his tracks and looks at his friend with a look of embarrassment on his face. He wills his face to stop flushing red, and slowly turns around, looking at the floor as he does.

 

“I am _so sorry_ , I am such a klutz, please let me help you with what you’re doing man,” he babbles almost incoherently as he turns and then looks up to face whoever he had backed into.

 

“Wow, so this literal bumping into people is something you do a lot then?” and Josh’s eyes widen as he recognises the voice immediately. He is looking up into the delicious chocolate brown of the man who had left him that morning and he was so excited to see him again. “Should I be jealous?” he hears the man ask him and Josh grins at him and shakes his head.

 

“What are you doing here?” Josh says finally, too surprised to think of anything more in depth that hat. Kyle smirks at him and winks.

 

“I can be overly persuasive when I want to be,” he says cryptically.

 

“Oh! God, it’s you,” Tyler suddenly appear behind Josh and realises who he is talking to.

 

“Good to see you again too Tyler,” Kyle says and Josh chuckles.

 

“Well lets at least get to the changing room before anyone says anything shall we?” Tyler says quickly and the three of them head back towards their changing room.

 

When the door closes behind them, instead of Josh getting into the bathroom first, it is Tyler trying to get his things together quickly and heading to get washed up. The door closes and as soon as the click is heard, Josh spins round and is pushing Kyle back against a free wall.

 

“You’re all I could think about all day,” he growls low into the taller man’s ear, and he feels the shiver go through his body in response.

 

“Josh, I made Dan leave his friends and drive three hours up here so I could see you. I’ve been feeling exactly the same way,” Kyle replies and suddenly their lips are meeting again, and for Josh it feels like he is coming home.

 

They don’t wait before deepening the kiss and there are low groans and moans coming from the pair as their tongues dance and swirl together. Kyle’s hands are running up and down the drummer’s toned, bare back and Josh is all for taking this further when the door opposite them flies open with a bang. The two automatically break apart and both flush red with embarrassment.

 

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realise we would be interrupting anything,” Jenna says, a sly smirk on her face.

 

“Yeah, Josh, maybe hang a sock or something on the door in the future, yeah?” Mark says, slightly shocked, but still with a small smile.

 

Josh runs a hand down his face and rubs at his eyes before realising he would have smudged his eye make up.

 

“Dammit,” he says to himself before grabbing Kyle’s hand. “Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to officially introduce you guys? Jenna, Mark…meet Kyle. My boyfriend.” And his smile gets wider as Kyle presses a soft kiss to his forehead.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Kyle strides backwards and forwards around the room as they wait for their set to start. He is chewing on the side of his nail as he walks and he has almost worn a path in the dirty carpet.

 

It is only a small intimate gig they are doing in the centre of London, but it will be the first time that he has seen Josh in about a month. All they had been doing since Leeds was texting back and forth – what with him and Tyler off doing dates in mainland Europe, and Bastille doing their normal festival schedule all over the country.

 

So for the first time in a month, Kyle and Josh were in the same country – in fact the same city! They were playing the O2 the next night, but when Kyle had said that there were performing the night before, Josh jumped at the chance to book tickets to come and see them.

 

“Kyle?” Will asks him carefully, trying to gauge why the man was acting so strange.

 

“Huh?” he replies absentmindedly, not deviating from the track he had decided on. Will looks over at the other two members of the band with a concerned look on his face.

 

“Oh just ignore him,” Dan says to the bass player. “He’s nervous cos someone he’s invited someone to watch,” he explains and Will just looks at Woody with wide eyes as they share some sort of telepathic communication.

 

“Who?” Woody asks and sits down heavily on the office chair and slides backwards on the casters.

 

“I don’t know,” Dan tells him uninterested. “Someone he met at Reading is all I know.”

 

Kyle stops in his tracks as he hears the statement and looks at the singer with a strange expression.

 

“Mate, can you really not remember that night?” he asks, still shocked at the admission.

 

“Kyle I can’t remember much after we left the M25. I remember waking up underneath a tent…like literally under a tent. No poles or anything.”

 

Kyle just shakes his head and continues his pacing, twisting his phone between his hands. He hadn’t heard from Josh all day, and he was starting to really worry.

 

“Oh, and then when you refused to let me finish watching the girls and made me drive all the way to Leeds completely hungover,” Dan continues.

 

“Whatever, you agreed,” Kyle retorts quietly and Woody and Will continue to watch them trade jibes like a tennis match.

 

“You left me! And didn’t come back for three hours!”

 

“Are you _still_ angry about that?” and Dan just glares back in response.

 

“God, it’s like watching mum and dad fight,” Woody comments, enthralled at the conversation. Will nods from his relaxed position against the dressing table.

 

“So…what’s she like?” Will asks finally after a few moments of silence. And Kyle stops moving again and just looks at the older man, chewing heavily on his thumb. He doesn’t say anything.

 

“Kyle?” Woody chimes in and Kyle just turns to look at the drummer in turn and continues to say nothing.

 

“I think I need a coffee,” he says and starts towards the door. He is stopped in his tracks when the door opens and Dick walks in.

 

“Ready guys?” he says jovially and Dan gets up off of the floor and walks towards him.

 

“Mate, we know your bi,” he says as he passes him and pats him on the shoulder with his normal smile. Kyle jogs after him.

 

“I know, but people don’t know he is,” he whispers into the singer’s ear.

 

“Aw mate, seriously? Closet case?” Dan says and looks at him, slightly disappointed. “That’s gonna be a nightmare for him to keep quiet with our fans,” he adds as they stand in the wings and wait for the tech guys to finish setting up.

 

Kyle pinches the bridge of his nose and scrubs at his mouth, before doing his trademark check of his moustache and beard to make sure everything was in place.

 

“You have no idea exactly how difficult this is gonna get,” Kyle mutters and catches the strange look that the singer gives to him just as he walks out to stand behind his synth set up.

 

The stage is still dark when he gets out there, and he can hear the screams of the crowd. Not nearly as deafening as they usually are at their bigger shows, but still a decent noise. He slides into his stage persona, and waits for Dan to walk on – after doing his normal final checks with Coop. He looks behind him and winks at Charlie before hearing the brass section start with the opening notes for Send Them Off.

 

\---

“Just happened to forget the words to that song there Kyle?” Charlie jokes as they walk off stage after bowing and head towards the dressing room again.

 

“I didn’t forget the words, Charles. I’ve always said that Pompeii would sound better with different vocals, and thought tonight was the night to try them!”

 

“You arsehole!” Dan exclaims as he pushes past them jokingly, but making sure that Kyle got the brunt of the shove.

 

“Workplace bullying! Dick did you see that?” Kyle shouts after the singer, who turns back to him and gives him the middle finger in retaliation.

 

“You signed a contract man! I can do whatever the fuck I want!”

 

“You’re a diva, Smith!” Kyle calls after him, draining the plastic bottle of water he was handed by one of the crew and walking through the door to the combined dressing area.

 

He walks over to where he left his mobile and picks it up immediately.

 

_Josh – you around?_

 

Kyle’s heart leaps when he sees it, and he almost immediately texts back, but he stills when he sees the rest of the guys file in chatting. Charlie is sorting his stuff out and checking his own phone while Dick, Will and Woody all laugh and joke. Dan is sitting on a chair with his legs over the side and just watches him. They lock eyes, and Dan gives him a small nod, as if he knows exactly what he was thinking.

 

Swallowing his pride, and his nerves, Kyle clears his throat loudly. The guys fall silent and look at him intrigued.

 

“So, Will asked earlier what this person was like and I didn’t say anything…well, because of a number of reasons, but mainly because this person is a bloke, and he isn’t out,” Kyle says to them all at once. No one says anything to the confession, but he sees Will’s face give him the same look that Dan had given him earlier. “So when you meet him you can’t shout anything, or say anything too loudly alright?”

 

“Why are his parents with him or something? Kyle who the hell have you hooked up with?” Woody asks, equal parts confused and bemused.

 

“No, just…” Kyle sighs loudly. “You’ll see,” he decides to say finally and all of them look at him strangely now.

 

He quickly texts the drummer back to see where he was and gets an immediate response saying they were still in the main hall.

 

“Come on then,” he says, sounding resigned to the fate that was about to befall him. He walks out of the room and knows without even looking around that the five men are following him.

 

Instead of heading out onto the stage, Kyle takes a different turn and walks them through the swinging double doors into the hall where the audience had been standing not half an hour earlier. As the group of them walk through there is still a small crowd of people in the hall in one corner near the stage. Kyle stops walking as he sees it and Dan automatically walks into the back of him.

 

“Dude! What the fuck?” he shouts at him, and Kyle turns round to shush him, pointing out the group of teenage girls.

 

“What’s going on?” Will asks, and then notices the group as well and starts to meander backwards towards the doorway they had come out of.

 

The girls start to disperse until there are only one or two left and then Kyle decides to bite the bullet and go over and see the man he had been dreaming about for weeks. He takes a deep breath and strides forward with his hands in his pockets, trying to seem as confident as he can.

 

“Ladies,” he says as he walks over, and the girls start laughing with shock, and the two of them each get a photo with the group before scuttling off and Kyle is left staring at Josh with a ridiculous grin on his face. He didn’t even notice Tyler standing next to him.

 

“What’s wrong with your face?” Woody says, glaring at Kyle and clearly confused.

 

“Hi,” Kyle says softly and Josh immediately smiles widely back, showing the dimples and perfect teeth that makes Kyle weak at the knees. He had re-dyed his hair at some point and the pink was now a lot brighter, and had been styled for the night.

 

Kyle admired the way that the leather trousers he was wearing made his legs look longer and was certain that as soon as he turned around his arse would look perfect. He had a white t-shirt on and no hat. To Kyle he was sex on legs.

 

“Hey,” Josh replies, but then looks behind the taller man and his smile drops slightly and Kyle can see a hint of nerves kicking in.

 

“Oh, for crying out loud,” an American accent suddenly cries from behind Josh, and Tyler elbows past with his hand out. “Sorry, when these two get together you don’t get much sense out of them. I’m Tyler, you guys were great tonight.”

 

Each of the other band members introduce themselves to Tyler in turn and then they all turn to Kyle and Josh. Kyle looks around quickly to make sure that there was no one around that shouldn’t be and he then slips his arm around Josh’s waist and pulls him into his side, causing the shorter man to smile widely again. The warmth and comfort he felt was immediate.

 

“Mate, you’re telling us that you having a thing with _Josh Dun_?” Woody asks, dumbstruck.

 

Kyle looks at him and then at Josh, not really knowing what to say.

 

“Er, yeah?” he says finally.

 

“Wow! Big fan,” Woody starts to gush and Kyle hasn’t seen him this excited over anything other than his football team. Kyle realises that if he wants any time alone with this man he was going to have to act now.

 

“I really hate to be a killjoy here, but, uh, me and Josh are going to go,” Kyle interrupts, and starts to pull Josh by the hand towards the exit.

 

“Tyler, I’ll call you later!” Josh calls over his shoulder and then giggles as Kyle drags him harder and faster to get away from the other men.

 

The only stop they make is to pick up Kyle’s jacket and keys from the dressing room and they still haven’t said anything to each other, but when the fire exit door bangs open and they are out of the building and in the dark, Kyle feels two hands reach up for the collar of his jacket and push him against the brick wall forcefully.

 

Plush lips start attacking his own and he groans pornographically into it, but Josh pulls away as quick as he had started.

 

“Now that’s a proper hello,” Josh says to him as he stands on his top toes and rubs his nose against the taller man. Kyle can feel his breath ghost over his face comfortingly, and he is getting harder just looking at the shorter man’s brown eyes and spit slicked lips.

 

“Miss me?” Kyle asks, teasingly and smirks at the rolling of the eyes the other man give him.

 

“What do you think?” Josh asks in return and lurches forward again to pull at Kyle’s bottom lip tantalisingly.

 

“Fucking hell,” Kyle moans. They haven’t even kissed for longer than a few seconds and both of them can feel their hormones racing through their veins at the brief contact they’ve had.

 

“Please say your place is close by?” Josh asks him suddenly.

 

“Shit, yes,” Kyle says, jerked back to the present and pushing away from the wall quickly to run towards the main road. He sees the familiar black shape with a yellow light on top and he automatically waves it down.

 

It pulls up next to him and he wrenches the door open and drags the drummer in after him. He blurts the address out to the driver and then they both sit with their fingers entwined as they sit through the journey.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who subscribed and left Kudos. I know I keep saying it, but it means a lot for this weird pairing as well!
> 
> <333


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The taxi pulls up outside Kyle’s apartment block – an old factory building that had been renovated into about ten different flats, and both boys get out of the cab. Josh watches as Kyle throws the money at the driver and turns back round to look at him.

 

For the second time that evening Josh is struck by how handsome the taller man is. As soon as he had seen him walk towards them in the hall after the show all he had wanted to do was ravish him where he stood, but now that he was back at the man’s home he was starting to feel nervous again.

 

“Come on,” Kyle says to him softly and grabs his hand and threads their fingers together. He doesn’t pull Josh after him and just leads the way. Josh is suddenly scared that Kyle had seen some of the nerves that were clearly showing on his face.

 

The thing was, Josh had a bit of a problem. Even though Josh identified as Bi-sexual, he had never actually acted on his feeling for another man before. Kyle was the first man that he had actually kissed – and then subsequently gotten off with – and he wasn’t exactly sure how tonight was going to go. And obviously, Josh being the anxious wreck that he was, hadn’t actually told Kyle any of this in the four week they had been talking to each other. It was a difficult subject to broach on text, and the last thing he wanted was to be overheard explaining his love life by Tyler and Mark while sitting on his bunk in a tour bus. Also, he liked the man. The last thing he wanted to do was scare him away in some sort of ‘gay virginity’ crisis.

 

So Josh had decided the night that he met Kyle that he was going to ‘fake it until he made it’, and he still wasn’t too sure how that was really going for him.

 

Lost in his own head, Josh hadn’t even noticed when they had entered the communal hallway and then walked up the stairs to the second floor. He was brought back to the present when Kyle stopped suddenly and looked back at him shyly before putting the key in the lock and turning it. Josh feels as his hand is grabbed again and he is pulled inside.

 

He stands in the hallway as Kyle gets rid of his jacket and he can’t help but look around. Being the top floor, the ceilings were all vaulted and the space had huge floor to ceiling windows along one wall. The whole living space was open plan and when Josh looked up he could see what appeared to be a platform with the bed on it.

 

“This is awesome,” he says, almost in a whisper, completely entranced by the flat.

 

He gets no reply so he stops looking around and sees Kyle just leaning against a counter and smiling warmly at him.

 

“What?” Josh asks and looks at him, feeling confused.

 

“You’re awesome,” is all that Kyle says to him and starts walking towards him. Josh chuckles at the comment and shakes his head slightly.

 

“Dude, did you just say that?” he asks, completely in disbelief.

 

“Look babes, I’ve been worrying about this all day, I’m allowed to be sappy and romantic when I finally get you alone!” he exclaims, but with a smile on his face so Josh knows he’s joking with him.

 

“Babes?” Josh says with a smirk on his face as Kyle finally reaches him and places his hands on his hips and squeezes possessively.

 

“I call everyone babes. Baby. Baby cakes,” Kyle explains.

 

Josh raises his eyebrow and feigns a confused and thinking look for a moment. He pulls Kyle in closer and kisses him deeply and passionately, his tongue running along the seam of the other man’s lips.

 

“I hope you don’t do that to everyone as well?” he says, a smug look on his face as he pulls away and grins at the taller man.

 

“Nope…definitely do not do that with everyone,” Kyle confirms. “But, just to make sure we’re on the same page here, do you?”

 

Josh is taken aback slightly at the question. He thought they had decided that they were going to be it for each other for the time being at least. He licks at his lips and starts chewing on the bottom one again. He looks over Kyle’s shoulder and sees the sofa, so he grabs the taller man’s hand and pulls him over to sit down.

 

“Shit, what are you going to say?” Kyle suddenly says and his eyes start to show fear. Josh’s own eyes go wide in response and he leans in to kiss the other man softly and try to soothe his nerves.

 

“No! Oh God, no!” Josh exclaims as he realises exactly what Kyle is thinking. “Shit, I’m awful at this!” he berates himself.

 

Josh sits down next to Kyle and places his hand on his knee, while toeing off his trainers and sitting cross legged on the sofa next to him. He takes a deep breath and releases it before he starts to talk.

 

“OK, so…I’m not good with any of this yeah? I know we’ve talked about an instant connection when we met, and that’s brilliant and all, but the only other person that has every happened with was Tyler. And we’re like brothers now man. So this…with you…is huge for me!” He stops to take another breath while looking at Kyle to see how he is taking everything he has said so far. The other man continues to sit there, just staring at the ground. “So, what I’m going to tell you is pretty huge too, yeah? I’ve had…things…relationships…with girls, but you would be the first…guy…” and he can’t continue anymore and his thoughts just mumble into silence while he waits to be told to get out of the house like the loser he is. He can feel the flush of embarrassment start to go up his neck and colour his face.

 

Kyle turns to him on the couch, his face a mixture of confusion and disbelief. Josh watches as his eyebrows furrow deeply and he doesn’t flinch as Kyle brings a hand up to his face, and almost with ghost like touches traces a path from his forehead. He pauses at the nose ring on the side of his nose and then finally pulls down his bottom lip seductively. Letting it go, he then holds Josh’s chin steady between his thumb and forefinger. He doesn’t let the drummer’s face move from that position and he stares deeply into his eyes.

 

“Don’t look away as I say this alright?” Kyle asks and Josh just blinks slowly in understanding. “I’m not…inexperienced,” he says slowly, trying to find the right words to fit the situation. “But I haven’t been talking shit when I said I knew what you meant about a ‘connection’. We can go as slow or as fast as you want alright? No pressure at all,” and as if to seal the pact, Kyle leans in and kisses Josh’s lips lightly.

 

“I wanna go pretty fast,” Josh says when they pull apart, slightly breathless at the admission from the other man and the kiss as well. “But maybe not light speed,” and Kyle chuckles at the comment, but he is taken off guard when he suddenly has a lap full of drummer, pushing him backwards into the seat.

 

Josh plants himself firmly where he wants to be in that moment and that is right on top of Kyle. He leans forward and grabs the man’s lips, and hungrily starts kissing and licking his way inside the other man’s mouth.

 

Kyle doesn’t seem to want anything else, as he opens up immediately and both the men’s tongues dance and tangle with each other, re-learning the areas they had gotten to know so well the last time they had met. Josh bites down on Kyle’s tongue and sucks it into his own mouth, and grins when the loud groan is his reward from the other man.

 

He starts to grind down hard onto Kyle’s lap, and he can feel the hardness underneath him as they continue to kiss. Josh starts to trail kisses down the man’s neck and suck lightly at the juncture between his neck and shoulder, and suddenly he is weightless, and Kyle lifts him up effortlessly and then spins him around and drops him back on to the sofa so their roles are reversed.

 

Kyle rucks up the t-shirt to get to the flawless skin underneath and then starts biting and nipping at the nipples there to get them as hard as he knew they could get. Josh was releasing moans and groans that he didn’t even know he could make at the ministrations, but suddenly realises what’s happening and pulls Kyle’s face back up to him again.

 

“No marks…can’t have any marks,” and Kyle smirks before kissing him deeply again.

 

“Wonder where I can kiss that won’t leave any marks?” he says with a sly smile on his face, and his hands immediately reach down to Josh’s leather pants and undo the button and zip that he finds.

 

Pulling them down as quickly as they can go _– “seriously dude, are these things painted on?” -_  he is immediately rewarded by Josh’s fully hard and erect dick springing back up to his stomach. Now Josh wasn’t huge, but he was thick and well-endowed considering the height of him and as he looks down at Kyle hunched between his feet, he can see that Kyle is not disappointed in what he sees.  The head was glistening with pre-come as Josh anticipated what was to come. Kyle flicks his eyes back up to the man above him and licks his lips, and before another word could be uttered he moves quickly and completely swallows Josh whole.

 

Josh loses all train of thought at the movement. He had had a few girlfriends who had done this for him, but always reluctantly and the added bonus of Kyle’s facial hair every time he bobbed lower against his thighs added another element he didn’t even know existed. He has to resist the urge to immediately start thrusting into his mouth.

 

Kyle’s tongue slowly rolls around the head of Josh’s cock and tongues at the slit making delicious groans come from him. Kyle releases one of Josh’s hips and manages to release his own throbbing member from its confines and starts to stroke quickly up and down his own impressive length. He continues to swirl and suck at the head of Josh’s dick as he continues to pump himself and the groans that Kyle is making from touching himself and enjoying the taste of the droplets of precome was sending vibrations through Josh and directly to where his own orgasm was starting to muster.

 

“Kyle…I’m not gonna last!” Josh manages to gasp out and with that his release comes fast and hot into the back of the other man’s throat. Josh lets out a long, loud moan and gasp as he comes and this noise is it for Kyle. He twists his hand at the tip of his own cock and suddenly all he feels is sticky, warm liquid on his hand.

 

Kyle slowly pulls off and licks up all the come he may have missed. Josh starts to whimper again as he becomes over sensitive at the ministrations and Kyle leans up to give him a soft, chaste kiss to his lips. He notices Kyle avoiding him with his hand and he pulls it up towards his mouth to see the mess adorning it. He considers it for a minute and then pulls the hand to his mouth and licks away the cooling come with his own tongue.

 

“Not as bad as I thought,” is all he says as Kyle continues to stare at him open mouthed. Josh then surges forward and attacks the man’s mouth again, mixing both of the releases together.

 

“Oh my god, that was so hot,” Kyle says as he pulls away and considers the drummer underneath him.

 

Josh smiles shyly and nods at him.

 

“Mate, there is no way you are allowed to be shy after that,” Kyle says and leans forward to kiss him again.

 

Josh laughs softly, and stops when he feels a vibration on his writs. He looks at his watch and sees he has a message from Tyler.

 

_Ty Guy – get your ass here now! Dancing and im bored…you’ve had more than enough time with your boy…or bring him too…all his friends are here anyway…_

He chuckles at the rambling message, which could only mean that someone had talked him in to drinking something. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows it to the man who had now curled up next to him on the couch and was stroking at his hair.

 

“If you want? I don’t mind,” is all that he gets in response and Josh laughs.

 

“You know where they might be?” Josh asks him. There was no point in asking Tyler if he had had a drink.

 

“I’ve got an idea,” Kyle says and pulls him up off of the seat. “Let’s go and freshen up first though.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

“Ooh candy!” Josh exclaims and the pink headed boy bounces over to the table filled with sugary goodness as the two of them walk into the interview room.

 

In order to play the O2 in London, the boys had to agree to the obligation to complete an entire filmed interview for their YouTube channel. And this was why they were both wandering into a room before they even had the chance to sound check.

 

The late night the evening before seemed to have taken its toll on the singer, but Josh was as bright as anything that morning and was even more excited to see the bowl filled with gummy bears and lollipops.

 

“How are you so peppy this morning?” Tyler asks him with a scowl, and Josh just gives him a wide eyed look of innocence. “Oh yeah, I forgot where you were before we met up,” he says dully and Josh unwraps a purple lolly and shoves it in his mouth with a beaming smile.

 

“Aw come on, you were having fun when we turned up!” he exclaims.

 

**_Twelve Hours Earlier…_ **

Josh and Kyle eventually arrive at the club that Kyle had been certain they would be at. They manage to walk straight past the queue and in past the door security without a second look. There were a number of whistles and calling to them as they walked past in order to try and get their attention and help them get in the club too, but the men were too caught up with each other to pay any mind to the other people around them.

 

Kyle had changed into some smart jeans and a red, black and blue skinny shirt – buttoned all the way to the top. Josh had managed to freshen up in the other man’s bathroom before coming out.

 

“Oh my gosh! There you are!” an excited scream comes from a dark corner of the dancefloor, erratically lit with multi-coloured lights from the ceiling.

 

The dark haired singer is streaking towards them and drags Josh into a bone crushing hug and smacks a massive kiss on his cheek in greeting. Deep inside, Kyle feels the initial flare of jealousy, knowing there was no way he was going to be able to do that himself while they were out.

 

“Hi Kyyyylllle!” Tyler drawls when he sees the other man standing behind Josh. “I’m not gonna kiss you,” he adds after throwing his arm around Josh’s shoulder. Kyle looks at him quizzically.

 

“Mate that is fine with me,” he tells him and looks around for his friends. “My guys around here anywhere?”

 

“Over there somewhere,” Tyler replies and waves his arm absentmindedly behind him. “Joshie! Come dance!” he begs with puppy dog eyes, and pulls the drummer onto the dance floor. Josh throws an apologetic look back at his boyfriend.

 

“Drink?” Kyle shouts and mimes drinking from a glass.

 

“Diet Coke!” Josh shouts in return as he is swallowed into the throng of dancing and moving bodies.

 

Kyle watches for a few seconds as Tyler badly starts to dance to the cheesy pop music playing over the speakers and then shakes his head as he watches the drummer join his friend in the bad dancing. He turns away from the sight and ends up standing next to the familiar dark quiff at the glass bar.

 

“Found us then?” Dan shouts over the din and Kyle shrugs his shoulders while holding a twenty pound note out to the bartender to catch his attention.

 

“Mate where else would you be?” and he gives the drinks order to the harassed man behind the bar. “Who gave mini Eminem alcohol?”

 

“Mini Eminem? That the best you could come up with?”

 

“Meh, it’s a work in progress babes,” he says and sits trying to think of another nickname for his boyfriend’s best friend, clearly disappointed in his first attempt at one. He sips from the Vodka and Lemonade in his hand and keeps the can of Diet Coke safe for his man.

 

Katy Perry’s most recent offering fades out and some nineties trance music starts to play instead. The two Americans finish on the dance floor and meet the Brits at the bar. Kyle launches the unopened can at the drummer who catches it swiftly and opens it with one hand, taking a long drink from the opening.

 

They’re quickly joined by Woody, who when he realises Josh is there becomes the most talkative person any of them had ever witnessed. A few more of the crew end up amassing with them and with that Josh gets pushed closer and closer towards Kyle until he is standing in front of him – Kyle still managing to carry on his own conversation with Dan and Tyler about the merits of Ikea furniture over the top of his head.

 

Halfway through a heated discussion between the drummers about whether a drum machine is ever warranted in live music – Josh being firmly on the side of ‘no’ and Woody trying desperately to find instances where it might be needed – the pink haired man feels a tight hold on the hip closest to the bar. He feels the thumb of the person holding him starts to draw small circles on his hip bone and he automatically leans into the touch. He feigns an itch and looks over his right shoulder to make sure Kyle is still behind him and sees the taller man sipping from his drink and nodding at something Dan is saying at the same time.

 

He casts a quick look over to his best friend who is now drinking what appears to be Red Bull mixed with something alcoholic, and he is emphatically trying to mime something to do with a hammer and a nail. Dan explodes with laughter at the site.

 

Inside Josh feels properly happy and content.

 

**_Now…_ **

“He calls me mini Eminem,” Tyler says and groans at the memory, pulling his sunglasses down over his face.

 

“I think it’s funny,” Josh tells him and smiles his million-dollar smile at him, the stick of his candy poking out from the corner of his mouth. “He gives everyone a nickname!”

 

“Yeah, well what’s yours?” Tyler challenges and Josh automatically goes silent.

 

Yes, Kyle had given him a pet name, but it wasn’t one he really wanted to share out oud with his best friend – even if his best friend knew every little detail about him already.

 

“Not telling,” he says finally and is glad he does as the interviewers come walking in with their film crew at that exact moment.

 

The people they brought with them start busying around the musicians, trying to get the rigged up with microphones and get the lighting in the right place.

 

“You guys doing alright?” the man asks them and the two of them just shrug in reply. They have been through a similar routine at least a hundred times before.

 

Josh didn’t think they had met these two interviewers before, but he would have to check with Tyler. He always had a bad memory for these kinds of people. One of them was a tall thin blond with a strange accent that Josh couldn’t place and the other was a young guy, maybe a few years younger than himself with dark spiky hair and very blue eyes. Relatively handsome if Josh had to put a label on him, but still far too done up for his tastes.

 

“I’m Donna and this is Dom and we’re gonna be interviewing you today,” the woman says and flips her blond curls over her shoulder. “Is it alright with you if we do this live?”

 

“Er, sure, yeah, cool,” Tyler offers and Josh just shrugs again.

 

“Right, let’s start then!” and the younger man starts to talk into the camera and introduces the boys and the band.

 

They start off – as always – with how they met. Tyler trots out the old Tinder Line and Josh just looks at him from the corner of his eye, sits back on the couch and crosses his legs, continuing to suck on his candy.

 

When the blond looks at him he just shrugs and nods his head to agree with his friend.

 

“Oh, but I thought you were straight, Tyler? Aren’t you married?” Dom says to him and flicks his eyes down to Tyler’s wedding ring.

 

“Er, yeah,” Tyler says as if it was obvious. “But I thought Tinder would be a great place to find a band mate.”

 

“I see you found the sweets, Josh,” Donna asks to change the subject quickly.

 

“Yeah! Yeah I did,” he replies excitedly again and smiles widely.

 

“So which did you like the best?” she asks him with a small smirk on her face and flips her hair at him again.

 

“Well I only really tried this one,” he says to her, a bit confused at how intensely the woman was staring at him. “But this is pretty awesome,” he adds.

 

“What are those pink ones meant to be?” Tyler asks, confused and holding up a large pink face.

 

“Those are Percy Pigs,” Dom tells him and Tyler sniffs it expectantly. “You should try one,” the man tells the singer and Tyler looks at him warily.

 

“Do I want to?” Tyler asks him, still not wholly sure of the food in his hand. He looks up at his friend who is also looking intrigued at the candy in his hand. “You try it first?”

 

“I don’t want to try it first!”

 

“Josh, it’s the same colour as your hair! Come on, you try it first!”

 

Josh eyes the gelatine. “I’ll try it if you try it,” he concedes.

 

“Same time?” they say at exactly the same moment, and then they smile widely at each other.

 

Josh crunches down on the lolly in his mouth and chews loudly and quickly while Tyler tears into the pig face and hands half to the drummer.

 

“Why do I get the bigger half?” and Tyler just cocks his eye brow at him until he takes it off of his hands.

 

On three the two of them throw the sweet into their mouth and chews down on to it. They sit contemplating the taste for a moment before looking at each other and smiling.

 

“Huh. Surprisingly good,” the singer says finally, and the questions continue about their gigs and fans and Tyler sits and answers them all diligently.

 

Josh looks down at his wrist when he feels the buzzing from his watch and the message icon flashes up and he flicks his wrist subtly to look at it.

 

_Kyle – you two are scarily co-dependent_

And as soon as he reads it, he bursts out laughing loudly, attracting all the attention from the interviewers and his friend.

 

When he looks up at them he blushes furiously.

 

“Uhm, really bad Tinder chat up line,” is all he says to them with a small apologetic shrug.

 

“So how is your love life then Josh?” Donna seizes the moment to ask and flirtily leans forward and pushes her breasts closer together to try and get the drummer’s attention.

 

“Well, one of these days Josh will eventually find the perfect person and finally get that kiss he hasn’t had yet,” Tyler says and claps the man on the shoulder in order to take the attention off of his friend.

 

“Never been kissed? I find that hard to believe,” Donna says directly to the drummer.

 

“It’s hard being me you see,” Josh says and shakes his head.

 

“How about making friends and relationships over here? I bumped into Bastille at Reading and they said they managed to catch your set,” she asks, something clearly behind the question. “And then you were seen out with them last night weren’t you?”

 

“Yeah, the guys are great. Came up and introduced themselves and yeah we had some fun dancing last night,” Tyler answers again.

 

Josh continues to eye the woman and sees something behind her eyes that he can’t put a finger on. He narrows his eyes at her and then scratches at his nose, avoiding the nose ring after years of practice.

 

Dom signs off the end of the interview and then as the microphones are removed from the men and the lights disassembled, Tyler looks over at his friend who is still deep in thought.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Dunno. She’s weird,” he replies and cocks his head toward the woman now on the other side of the room.

 

“She was flirting with you, doofus,” Tyler tells him and winks.

 

“Yeah, well, still,” is all Josh says and starts to head out again.

 

He misses the way Tyler is waylaid by the woman before he manages to get out of the door.

 

“Maybe tell your drummer that there will be rumours if he keeps hanging out with that guy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!
> 
> Thanks again for all comments, kudos and subscriptions.
> 
> Let me know what you like and don't like....I love constructive criticism.
> 
> xx


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

“Simmons Synth Hire.”

 

“You caught the interview then?” Josh leans against one of the white walls lining the wide corridor and holding his phone to his ear. He can’t stop the grin on his face when he hears the smooth accent of his lover on the other end of the line.

 

“Ooh, are we allowed to talk on the phone now?” Kyle jokes, and Josh rolls his eyes even though he knows the other man can’t see him.

 

“What? All I’m doing is calling my friend to talk,” Josh retorts.

 

“Huh, friend? Really? Should I be jealous about what you and Tyler get up to when your alone then?” Kyle asks cheekily. Josh bites his bottom lip and goes silent. “Oh, really babe?” Kyle taunts down the phone and Josh can feel his face get redder. “Does he know about it?”

 

“Ha, you’re funny you know that?” Josh tells him, embarrassed by his secret being found out by his boyfriend.

 

“It’s alright, next time I see you I’ll make you completely forget mini Eminem’s name,” Kyle purrs down the phone and Josh feels a fresh blush cross his cheeks.

 

And almost as if it was planned, Tyler walks around the corner and when he sees the drummer he smiles at him.

 

“Jish we need to talk about your trumpet,” he says and then when he sees he is on the phone he puts his finger to his lips and mouths ‘sorry’ at him.

 

“Is that him?” Kyle asks, and takes Josh’s silence as confirmation. “Ooh, fun, what can I say that will make this even more uncomfortable for you?” he adds and chuckles down the phone.

 

“I hate you,” Josh hisses.

 

“Yeah, course you do Cap, speak to you later,” Kyle says and Tyler can clearly hear the Brit down the phone. Josh hangs up quickly.

 

“What about my trumpet?” he says with a confused look on his face.

 

“Did he call you ‘Cap’?”

 

“Ty! What did you need?” Josh asks, frustrated and starts to march back to where all of their belongings had been dumped. He walks through the doors and starts to flick through his rack of clothes to make sure he had everything he needed for the evening’s show.

 

“Trouble in paradise?”

 

“Are being an ass on purpose, or does it just come naturally to you?”

 

Tyler grabs his chest as if he had been shot and looks wounded. Josh sighs loudly and claps him on the back.

 

“Sorry Ty, what’s up?” he concedes to his friend and stops what he’s doing.

 

“Your trumpet. I think you need a new one,” he announces and Josh just raises his eyebrows, expecting some sort of explanation to the statement. “You’ve been having some problems recently,” he adds.

 

“No I’m just awful on the trumpet,” Josh says and picks up a towel of his that he had thrown on to a nearby couch before sitting down and crossing his legs. Tyler just gives him a look that he quite rightly reads as ‘ _really, queen_?’ “Nah, it’ll be the mouth piece, I’ll get new one when we get back home,” he tells him.

 

“I can get Mark to go out and get one before tonight?” Tyler offers and Josh shakes his head emphatically.

 

“Nah, I’ll want to choose it myself. Anyway, how would you feel if you had to change the uke strings right before a gig huh?”

 

“Fair enough, but that’s the first thing you do when you get home tomorrow alright?” Tyler looks and points at him with his index finger.

 

“Yes mom!” Josh says sarcastically. “Jenna meeting us at LAX?” he asks and Tyler smiles and nods quickly. “You alright staying with me for the night?”

 

“Nope, hate you. Hate your place,” and when Josh raises his eyebrow at him he relents quickly. “Dude, of course, stop being an ass.”

 

The door to the room opens quickly and Mark wanders in nonchalantly.

 

“Ready to sound check yet?” he asks them and the boys both look at each other and shrug before they head out onto the stage.

 

\---

The gig plays well, and Josh only misses part of his trumpet solo – again. As they get back to the hotel room they were sharing afterwards and Josh flops down onto his separate queen size bed, he looks over at the singer who was glaring at him.

 

“Yeah, alright! I won’t even go home first how does that sound?” he says to him and Tyler just nods as if to say ‘thank you,’ and busies himself packing for their flight the following day.

 

“So what’s happening with you and lover boy now then?” Tyler asks him conversationally as he throws his dirty laundry into a pile and starts to place his clothes out for the morning.

 

“What do you mean?” the drummer asks, sitting up and confused by the question.

 

“Well, we’re flying out to the south pacific now, so have you two like come to a natural end or…” he trails off, waiting for his best friend to fill in the blanks for him.

 

“Oh, god,” Josh sighs loudly and falls backwards onto the softness of the duvet again before covering his face with his hands. He could feel where his hair had dried to his forehead and a thought flies through his mind that he would have to shower soon. “He doesn’t know we’re going tomorrow,” he finally admits and Tyler just stops what he’s doing to stare at him open mouthed.

 

“What the frick? Joshua William Dun are you kidding me?” he explodes and walks over to the man and pulls his hands away from his eyes so he can stare at him sternly.  

 

“What?” Josh demands and tries to pull his hands away from his friend. Considering how thin and small he was the guy had a strong grip.

 

“All I’ve listened to for the past month is _‘Kyle is so amazing’_ and _‘Kyle is so perfect’_ , and instead of doing the one thing I assumed you would – like, I don’t know, try and keep the thing going! – you’re skipping out on him by twelve thousand miles!” Tyler’s rage continues and Josh just looks at him still completely confused.

 

“Hang on, I thought you wanted me to stay in the closet? Remember my huge decked out closet?” Josh asks him just as loud to get his attention.

 

“Yeah, well that was before! You haven’t been this happy in years dude! Like even with Debby, you were happy, but not downright _dreamy-eyed_!” and at that, the argument is interrupted by a knock at the door.

 

They both stop what they were doing and simultaneously turn top the door to see what would happen next.

 

“You order anything?” Josh asks the singer, who just shakes his head.

 

They knew it wouldn’t be anyone they knew as they had a special knock for that, so they look at each other again and without saying another word put their fists up and hit their opposite palm three times to decide who would answer the door with rock, paper, scissors. When Josh chooses rock and Tyler chooses scissors and curses softly to himself, the singer then straightens his hoody and walks over to the door and pulls it open to as far as the security chain would let him.

 

Behind the door stood two girls, one clearly younger than the other. The younger of the two was about twelve years old and was wearing a clique hoody which was about four sizes too big for her, had mousy brown frizzy long hair and was holding a copy of Blurryface on CD in her sleeve covered hands. The other girl with her looked about twenty and was clearly related, but had covered her face in make-up and was far too dolled up for what he could only assume had been their concert that evening.

 

“Hello?” the singer asks, cautiously and looks around the corridor behind the pair to make sure they were the only fans standing there.

 

“Come on Lisa, for god’s sake ask for your little signature and let’s get out of this freak hole,” the older girl hisses at the younger girl, who’s face just falls in embarrassment. She clearly knew that the person behind the door was Tyler Joseph.

 

“Shhh, Amie, oh my god!” she hisses back at the girl and flushes red. “Hi, I know this is really bad, but I didn’t get to see you after the concert, so I was wondering if you could sign this for me?” the girl asks politely, and Tyler is affronted when the woman behind her scoffs loudly.

 

Tyler looks behind him to make sure the room looked a bit presentable, and also to make sure Josh had some clothes on, before shutting the door and pulling off the security chain and opening the door again.

 

“Dude, wh…?” Josh starts as Tyler gives him a look and lets the younger girl in. He tries desperately to ignore the woman behind her.

 

“Josh, this is Lisa and she missed our meet and greet and wanted a quick autograph, we can do that yeah?” he says pointedly at the drummer and Josh automatically falls in line like he always did when Tyler suggested anything.

 

“Yeah, sweet, uh, I don’t know if we have pens though? Hang on,” and he jumps off the bed and searches in his backpack where he usually kept all of his random stuff he went on tour with. “Aha!” he cries finally when he finds a black Sharpie and digs it from the depths of the luggage.

 

Lisa blushes violently again as Josh signs the CD and hands it over to Tyler to sign and he can see that Tyler was going to let them take photos as well. It was just like the man to be kind to the younger fans.

 

After he makes ‘Amie’ take the photo on Lisa’s phone, Tyler kisses the young girl’s tawny head and lets her disappear off out of the door, hugging her phone and the CD. Amie holds back quickly before handing back the Sharpie at the door.

 

“If you’re ever around these parts again, I can give you my number?” she asks flirtily and Tyler just looks her up and down before taking the pen out of her hand.

 

“I’m married,” he tells her simply with a smirk. Unperturbed Amie looks over at the drummer and gives him a suggestive look.

 

“Ha-ha, so not interested,” Josh tells her quickly with his ow smirk and the girl leaves them angrily and tries to chase after the younger girl.

 

\---

After a long discussion about what they wanted to eat and what would still be open at that time, it was decided that pizza was the way to go, and Tyler had disappeared off to call the order into the nearest pizzeria still delivering at midnight.

 

Josh is left on his bed again in his boxers and white t-shirt, playing on his phone and trying to decide whether he would let Kyle know they were leaving the next day. Strangely he hadn’t had any texts from the other man that day either, and he wasn’t sure whether that was giving him his answer anyway.

 

Tyler wanders through with a towel and announces he’s having a shower and that the pizza would be here soon and to answer the door when it came. Josh waves non-commitally and goes back to playing Evil Apples with Mark who was still awake in the room down the hallway.

 

Five minutes later and the inevitable door knock comes and Josh sighs and manages to roll off of the bed and towards the large wooden white door which held the pizza goodness behind it. He picks up his wallet and digs a twenty pound note out to pay the delivery guy with and as he opens the door his eyes travel up to the man’s face and he notices it is the familiar brown eyes, dark beard and smile of the man he was literally thinking about.

 

“Should I still be surprised when you turn up without me expecting it?” Josh asks him with a smile and holds the door open for him to walk through.

 

“Probably not,” the man replies with a grin and puts the pizza boxes down on a handy desk next to the door.

 

“Do I owe you a tip or what?” the drummer asks and Kyle just smiles again with a glint in his eye and pulls Josh forward with a handful of t-shirt and presses their lips together. Breaking apart Josh sucks on Kyle’s bottom lip and then smiles back at him.

 

“So someone told me something today that came as a surprise,” Kyle says and pulls the shorter man over to the beds by his hand. Josh automatically feels the butterflies in his stomach getting stronger as their hands were entwined together. Kyle looks at both beds and then at Josh, clearly asking which was his. Josh points to the bed on the left and Kyle pulls him over so they are both sitting on the end of it.

 

“Who told you what now?” Josh says, suddenly dragged back into the present.

 

“You’re going tomorrow,” Kyle says and looks disappointed in Josh. The drummer goes quiet and just looks at the man.

 

“Yeah,” Josh agrees quietly as if admitting to it made it more real somehow. “I didn’t know how to tell you,” he adds. “It was different when it was just Europe because, well, we were coming back here. But it’s going to New Zealand now and then home and I didn’t want this to end badly.”

 

“Did it have to end badly?” Kyle asks him and Josh gives him a look that tells him everything he needed to know. “Oh, because, well I was all for seeing how this went…you know with the distance and everything,” Kyle tells him and Josh just looks at him with his mouth open. “Well it’s not like either of us are poor! I think we could do it.” Kyle adds at the end and Josh looks down and away from the chocolate brown eyes he was in danger of drowning in.

 

“But wouldn’t it be a bit obvious, that we were, you know, a couple?” Josh asks him and flushes brightly.

 

“Well babes, it’s not me that has a problem with that. And didn’t you say everyone already thinks you’re in an open relationship with Tyler anyway?” and the drummer huffs a small laugh and smiles at the question. “So we don’t tell anyone. Let people come to their own conclusions,” Kyle says, almost taking the decision away from the drummer entirely.

 

“If it helps, I think it’s a great idea,” comes another voice from the direction of the bathroom and Tyler walks through in his pyjamas. “And finally, when I ordered pizza, I didn’t realise that the pep talk was gonna be included,” he adds with a roll of his eyes.

 

“Did you do this?” Josh asks his best friend and Tyler says nothing but swallows nearly an entire slice of pizza in one go.

 

“Well?” Kyle asks Josh, staring at him in the eyes for a full minute before Josh was able to come up with any answer.

 

\---

 

_Daily Star – Bastille Member Seen Leaving Twenty One Pilot’s Hotel_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thank you for sticking with me guys!
> 
> Love all comments so please let me have it!! x


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to really confuse you guys!! Changed my pseud to make it easier to keep everything straight online!
> 
> Please read and enjoy!

Chapter Ten

It was early afternoon by the time Kyle dared to wake up in his own bed. He opens his eyes slowly and as the previous night’s meeting floods back into his mind, he can’t help but smile to himself. Yes, the pink haired man with the winning smile was now flying back to America – probably at that very moment – but he was going to see him again, and they were going to try and make their relationship work.

 

He groans loudly and stretches his arms and legs, feeling and hearing the familiar popping noises as he moves. He rolls out of bed and stomps down the floating staircase into his kitchen to make himself something filled with caffeine to fully wake up. He scratches his hands through his hair and hears the vibrations of his phone ringing against his table in the living room where he had obviously left it when he had walked in that morning at half past four.

 

“Yup,” he answers quickly, not awake enough even to come up with a witty remark.

 

“It’s me,” comes the familiar timbre of Dan down the phone. “Where were you last night?”

 

“What?” the younger man asks, confused as he balances his handset between his ear and his shoulder and attempting to pour himself a cup of instant coffee.

 

“Last night? Were you with Josh?” Dan tries again.

 

“Yeah, why?” Kyle asks, pulling his milk out of the fridge, unscrewing the lid and sniffing the contents before deciding that, yes, it was safe enough to drink.

 

“Well is he still in the closet?” Dan asks down the phone, and Kyle finally catches the slight hint of worry in his voice with the question.

 

Even though the two of them hadn’t spent as much time together as Kyle would have liked, or even as much time together as Kyle and Tyler – mainly because Dan had been busy with his main obsession, work – he knew how much the drummer had come to mean to Kyle in the short space of time they had known each other. He had seen it as soon as Kyle had made him drive up to Leeds, even if he hadn’t told him exactly what was going on until a few days ago.

 

“Uhm, ye-es,” Kyle answers, extending the word as he tried to figure out exactly what his friend was trying to tell him.

 

“Then you need to get round to mine, I need to show you something.”

 

\---

Not even an hour later and Kyle is standing at the top of the steps to Dan’s front door. He had managed to gulp down his boiling cup of coffee, only burning the roof of his mouth once as he did it, and pull on his previous evenings clothes as quickly as he could. He was worried about what Dan had to say, so instead of even trying to battle through the vagaries of public transport he got himself a cab and rode quickly to the mid terrace townhouse his friend shared with 4 other people.

 

He had noticed a missed call from Josh on his screen after he had hung up from his friend, but there was no voicemail and no text so he assumed he was trying to say goodbye again. He had tried to return the call, but the phone was switched off, so he would have to catch up when he landed.

 

He rang the doorbell and waited a few moments for the large white and glass wooden door to be pulled open by a red headed man Kyle had only seen once in passing – his name could possibly be Chris, but Kyle couldn’t be certain. He had only moved in about a month previously.

 

“Dan around?” he asks and tries to push past and into the cramped hallway behind the man, but Chris was having none of it.

 

“And you are?” he asks, confrontationally, clearly having been told how to deal with unexpected people at the door asking for the singer.

 

Kyle looks at the man, unimpressed and raises an eyebrow. “His mate, who are you? His guard dog?”

 

“It’s alright Chris, let him in,” comes the voice from down the hall and the red head looks back to make sure it was really fine to let him in.

 

As the man moves out of the way to let Kyle inside, the taller man notices the flush of cheeks and slight embarrassment from even looking at Dan let alone talking to him, and he files the piece of information away into _‘things to annoy Dan with’_ in his mind.

 

He walks towards the source of the voice, and he heads downstairs into the large basement kitchen where Dan can usually be found. It spanned the entire basement floor and had bi-fold doors out onto decking and a lawned area in the garden. One end had a large country style kitchen with Aga and the other end was combined dining and sitting room.

 

“So I rushed around here at stupid o’clock in the morning for what?” Kyle demands after trotting down the last two steps and into the warmer room. He sees Dan cupping a large mug between his hands and chatting to Sophie agains the Aga.

 

“Kyle it’s two thirty in the afternoon,” Sophie says to him and gets a hand waved in her face for her troubles.

 

“Babes, I’m so tired, my bags have bags right now. You know, big canvas bags for life type bags,” he says to her and she giggles at the comment. Kyle kisses her lightly on the cheek as he passes and reaches behind his friend for a cup so he can pour his own coffee from the cafetiere sitting on the side.

 

“Well that’s what happens when you stay out to all hours in the morning,” Dan says sarcastically and Kyle just looks at him disbelievingly.

 

“Mate, coming from you I take that as an insult,” he tells him and Dan chuckles at the hypocrisy of his statement. “Why did you need me here anyway?”

 

Dan puts his cup down on the kitchen island and walks over to the sofa at the other end of the kitchen while Kyle makes his coffee the way he usually drinks it. He watches him take a sip and then throws a copy of a folded up newspaper to him.

 

“The Daily Star Dan? Really? I thought you had more class than that,” Kyle jokes as he opens the paper at the first page.

 

“It’s not mine, it’s Chris’,” the singer tells him quickly, trying to defend the literature in his own house.

 

“You need a better class of flat mate dude,” comes the retort and Dan gives him a scathing look. “Sorry,” Kyle adds afterwards.

 

“Alright, not that I don’t find Tina, 19, from Stockport extremely interesting on page three and I’m sure she will make a fantastic primary school teacher, but why am I looking at this?”

 

“Trust you to automatically ignore anything other than what’s on page three,” Sophie pipes up from behind him. Kyle shoots her a guilty look, but manages to stop himself before saying what he wanted to about being in a relationship with Josh.

 

“Page six Ky,” Dan tells him and reaches over to get his cup before settling down on one of the high stools at the other side of the island.

 

The taller man flicks through to the right page and is struck by a photo of a dark figure in the early morning light walking away from the hotel he had visited last night. Even if he didn’t know who it was it was clearly obvious that it was himself they had photographed.

 

He warily reads through the article and surprisingly – for the trash that this tabloid usually produces – it is all true. It makes his heart sink though after all the anxiety Josh had had about being seen together, and here it is. Kyle has no idea who the ‘source’ was, but he had noticed some girls outside the place when he had gone in and could only assume it was them.

 

“So, it’s all speculation isn’t it?” Kyle says to Dan and takes a sip of his coffee. The singer watches him with narrow eyes.

 

“Are you sure this is what you want Kyle?” Dan asks him with all seriousness and Kyle quickly looks behind him to see Sophie still standing there. She gives him a small sad smile as if to agree with whatever Dan was thinking.

 

“Mate, never been more sure of anything in my whole life.”

 

\---

He hadn’t chosen anything exciting to travel in. Even Josh knew that with his snapback, sneak peek of pink hair, nose ring and gauges it would put anyone off wanting to be anywhere near him. So when he had thrown on his self-made cut-off jeans, old vans and favourite faded NASA t-shirt, he knew no one would take a second look at him. Tyler had given him a slight look of disappointment, but Josh knew that when they landed in LAX and no one was pestering him for autographs or photos his mission would have been a success.

 

It wasn’t until they had made their way through security and into the departure lounge at Heathrow that either of the men actually saw the headline of the newspaper.

 

It was in WHSmith, while Tyler was looking for Red Bull to drink for the trip that Mark brought the paper up to where Josh was leaning casually against the shop front – legs and arms crossed and his backpack sitting at his feet. He had his headphone on and he was bopping his head along to the music when his friend walked up to him.

 

“Dude, you see this?” and Mark holds the article out for him to skim read. He automatically recognises the dark photo of his lover walking away from the hotel that morning and he feels his stomach tighten ominously.

 

It was all presumption on the part of the reporter – Kyle had been seen taking pizza boxes into Josh and Tyler’s room and then a photographer had snapped the picture as he had left earlier that morning. It had been an amazing night for Josh, just spending time with his two favourite people and then them getting to know each other better as well.

 

The only problem for Josh was that the ‘presumption’ was one hundred per cent accurate. Josh takes a deep breath as he tries to compute exactly what this meant. It was everything that he and Kyle had discussed the night before, but it was all coming to fruition a lot quicker than he had imagined it ever would.

 

“Give me five minutes? And look after my stuff?” he asks Mark quickly who just nods at him.

 

Josh starts to rush away and quickly has to side step his best friend who was walking out of the shop at the same time.

 

“Woah! Josh, you alright?” Tyler shouts after him and the drummer just waves a hand behind him.

 

He walks quickly through a large doorway and away from the hustle and bustle of tourists shopping it became a lot quieter. He walks towards a large seating area with fire doors and a video screen proclaiming ‘Gate 19b – CLOSED’ on it.

 

He sits on one of the seats looking out over the runway and notices the large number of brightly coloured passenger jets taking large numbers of people all over the globe. Inside, he was panicking. He had no idea how anyone was going to react to the news – and by anyone he really meant his family and their fans. Yeah it was all fine when they thought he and Tyler were a couple and they all made a joke about it, but now it was true that Josh Dun was _not straight_ and _with a man_ it would become a reality for everyone.

 

And his parents were Christians. Alright, so they weren’t extreme crazy Baptist Christians who wanted everyone to burn in hell, but they were religious. The question of any of the Dun children not being straight or growing up to marry and have two point four children had never even been mentioned before let alone discussed in length. It had never even been considered an option. And because of that, Josh was terrified. The main thing that triggered his anxiety was not knowing what other people wanted - the main problem of being a people pleaser.

 

Sighing again, his thoughts switch to his best friend. Now this was something that was out in the open, what would Tyler really think? His main focus has always been the fans and their image and if that is affected in any way it might mean the end of him in Twenty One Pilots. He couldn’t handle that either – in some ways it was almost worse than disappointing his parents. Tyler had chosen to be his friend and he would be abusing that friendship.

 

He rests his feet up on the window sill in front of him and stares at his black and white vans for a while, trying to think about all the possible scenarios and outcomes in his head. Nothing good ever seemed to come out of these thoughts and he fiddled with his phone in his hands before unlocking it and searching for the name he needed. He hits Kyle’s number and sighs whilst bringing the handset to his ear and listening to the foreign dial tone.

 

_“This is Kyle’s voice mail…I might call you back, but that could well be a lie…” beeeep._

Josh hangs up quickly, deciding he would rather speak to the man instead of leaving him a voicemail. He flicks into his photo albums and to the most recent pictures taken. As he looks through them he remembers exactly why they had decided to do it.

 

His favourite picture is of him and Kyle sitting at the head of the bed the night before. Josh had managed to pull on some jogging pants and still had his white sleep shirt on and Kyle was sitting behind him with his arms around his middle and his bearded face resting on his shoulder. He was staring lovingly at him as Josh laughed at something stupid Tyler had said.

 

Smiling softly to himself as he remembers how safe he felt in the man’s arms he flicks through to some of the other ones; Kyle attempting to eat a slice of pizza without his hands as Tyler timed him; Kyle flicking through his own phone, oblivious to being photographed; both of his men laughing loudly at something that Josh had said and not realised that it sounded ridiculous.

 

He had always been the dominant one in his previous relationships, but now he felt like he was being taken care of, and even though he felt selfish thinking it, he couldn’t help but love the feeling of safety it gave him. He bites at his lower lip and pulls his hat off of his head before running both hands through his pink strands trying to make a decision. He hated not having anyone to talk it through with, but he couldn’t talk it through with Tyler, it wasn’t fair on him.

 

Finally, he makes a choice and decides that he will do exactly what Kyle had suggested. Ignore it, carry on the way they were going and when he feels it was time he would talk to his family. Doing it over the phone wasn’t going to help anyone.

 

First though he did need to explain everything to Tyler.

 

Feeling proud that he had managed to make his own decision, he throws his cap back on his head, pockets his phone with one final look at his boyfriend and walks back out to where he had left his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> So here's another chapter. Gonna try and do this a bit more regularly so will attempt to do update every tuesday for you.
> 
> Let me know what you think guys, please!! I love all the Kudos, subscriptions and comments so far, so please keep it going!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed x


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He everyone, so here is chapter eleven. 
> 
> Just want to thank Basttop for her amazing support and input for this! Making me think that it's okay to think outside the box when it comes to this crazy pairing. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think, any ideas you might have or things you think isn't right. All criticisms welcomed!
> 
> xx

Chapter Eleven

Twelve hours later and Josh and Tyler are standing in the luggage hall waiting for their belongings to come out of the dark hole on the conveyer belt. They had said their goodbye’s to Mark who was connecting directly over the Pacific to meet the rest of the tour crew and slowly made their way through the customs queue and to the large grey hall they were currently standing in. The majority of their things had been shipped directly to New Zealand for the final leg of their tour, but they had brought some of their things back to drop off in LA before heading out there.

 

“I want to make a scene,” Tyler suddenly announces with no preamble. Josh doesn’t even turn to look at him when he says it.

 

“Ty, you always make a scene,” he tells his friend as he cranes his neck to try and see if the bags were close to coming out.

 

“No dude, like if there’s cameras out there, let’s make it exciting for them yeah?” the singer says excitedly, pulling on Josh’s sleeve to try and get him to pay attention to his pleas.

 

“Have we not had enough of doing things for the cameras recently?” Josh asks him seriously and chews on his lower lip.

 

“Look, if you,” and Tyler stops and quickly looks around them to make sure there was no one who could overhear, “ _and Kyle,”_ he mouths, “are going to try and play up and not say anything, the least I can do is join in right?”

 

Josh looks at him intensely. They had managed a quick conversation about the newspaper article in the lounge in Heathrow, and the a few passed notes on their phones when they were flying. Tyler had insisted he was fine with everything and if anything went wrong they would deal with it then. He furrows his brow and continues to chew on his lip as Tyler rolls his eyes at his friend as the silence continues.

 

“Jish, seriously, I said I was fine yeah? C’mon dude, we’re just two happy boys, yeah?” Tyler says with his cheeky smile and starts to tickle Josh’s ribs, causing the older man to try and twist away from him.

 

‘NO! Don’t! _Fine alright_!” Josh finally agrees and the alarm suddenly blares to warn passengers to stay away from the conveyor belt as it starts to move. Josh wanders over to the large bank of trolleys and starts the familiar struggle of moving it towards where all the other men and women were waiting for their bags.  

 

After another few moments the multitude of different types of luggage starts spilling out onto the black moving belt. Josh didn’t know why, but he loved watching all of the different colours, shapes and types of containers coming out and then finding their owners. It made him feel happy for some reason, and it was always the thing he enjoyed watching the most when travelling anywhere.

 

He spots Tyler’s things coming out first, after a run of muted blue and khaki suitcases on wheels. It was a large black and silver trunk covered in stickers from all the locations they had played over the past few years. Josh looks behind him to see if his friend was going to help him, but as always, Tyler seemed to have chosen that exact moment to disappear to the bathroom and leave Josh to try and heave the large case onto the trolley himself.

 

He shakes his head as he finally manages to do it without hurting any of the other people around him in the process and puts his hands on his hips as he waits for his own bag to come out. He pulls his backpack off and slides the top handle over the hook on the trolley before noticing his own bag coming out of the tunnel.

 

He thinks to himself that he can hardly begrudge the singer’s choice of travel bag when he himself used a snowboarding bag to transport his belongings in. He can see the muted turquoise, pink and khaki green tie-dyed camo print bag come into view and he lets out a breath when he sees that there appears to be no damage to it. He knows it’s weird to use a Burton snow-boarding bag as his luggage, but it’s on wheels, doesn’t take up too much space and all he has to do it screw up his clothes to fit in. For travelling, it’s perfect. He grabs his bag by the handle and pulls it on top of the crate next to him, and pushes the trolley into an empty area so he can try and balance the bag on top of the trunk.

 

As if by magic, he suddenly feels a presence at his side, and he can smell the familiar travel scent of his best friend. He turns to look at him disappointedly. Tyler chooses to completely ignore him.

 

“Have you seen this?” he says instead and holds his iPhone out to the drummer to look at.

 

On the screen is Kyle, clearly walking somewhere and smiling at something the man next to him was saying. It wasn’t clear who it was, but he could see the slightly familiar outline of a dark quiff and realises it must be Dan that he is walking with. The thing that Tyler was obviously pointing out was what he was wearing.

 

Josh takes the phone from him and pinches the picture to zoom in on the hoody that was clearly needed in the lees than warm British summer. He stares wide eyed as he realises exactly why he knew why it was familiar. It was a black top that a fan had created for him early in their Blurryface tour.

 

“I was looking for that on the plane!” he exclaims, open mouthed. He continues to zoom around the picture until he notices the bleach stain on the arm of the sweater. “Oh, gosh, their gonna know it’s mine just from that,” he cries to his friend and hands the phone back to him and puts his hand over his face.

 

“Nope, shut up, c’mon, happy boys remember,” Tyler tells him sternly and prises his hands from his face and stares at him intently. Josh opens his eyes and looks into his friend’s brown ones. “If your happy, I’m happy. Don’t forget that J,” he says softly. Slowly Josh starts to nod at his words and then a huge smile spreads across his face.

 

“He stole my hoody,” he says and giggles lightly.

 

“Yeah, so now he’s a thief as well,” Tyler replies sarcastically, but there is a hint of a smile on his face because of how happy it’s made Josh. “OK, now turn round, I want a ride out there.”

 

Tyler manhandles his friend so that he is holding onto the trolley and holds onto his shoulders as he jumps up and wraps his legs around Josh’s midsection. Even though the drummer had been expecting it – and even though Tyler wasn’t that heavy in the grand scheme of things – Josh still grunts at the feeling of having a fully grown man attach himself to his back.

 

An older woman in her seventies turns around to look at them with a glare on her face and she tuts at them both. Tyler takes Josh’s cap off of his head and puts it on himself and the woman gasps as she takes in the flattened pink hair, red see through gauges in his ears, nose ring and his tattoo sleeve.

 

“Sorry, ma’am,” Josh says politely and gives her a slight nod in apology and a smile, and starts to push the bags towards the double sliding doors at the end of the hall.

 

“You are such a suck up!” Tyler exclaims quietly in his ear, and Josh nudges his head to the side, narrowly missing head butting his friend, but getting his point across.

 

The frosted glass doors slide open and they walk out into the large crowded arrivals area, where swarms of relatives are waiting for their people to arrive. They are lined up in groups along the walkway which is separated from the crowds with a metal barrier. There are a small group of fans waiting along the sides, and for the thousandth time that tour Josh wonders how they know when they were exactly flying in. When the group sees them they start squealing and reaching out towards them.

 

“Go over to them dude,” Tyler tells him, and just like that he angles the trolley to move over to the barrier and each of them sign a few autographs and smile at the fans standing there. Josh knows that there are now going to be a million photos of Tyler on his back, but he just smiles at them and then walks his friend over to where he knew Jenna would be waiting for them.

 

The Starbucks at LAX was relatively big, and when he finally sees his friend’s wife, he feels a literal weight come off of his shoulders as Tyler jumps off and runs full pelt over to the blond. Josh stretches his neck out quickly before walking a bit quicker over to where his friend was waiting for them at a table with their coffee orders ready.

 

“I love you,” Josh says directly to Jenna as he gets to the table, only mere moments after her husband. The woman smiles at him and slides his large coffee across the table to him.

 

Josh turns around and out into the airport, giving the two a moment of perceived privacy whilst surrounded by thousands of other people. He feels a buzz in his pocket, and takes another long sip of the cooling caffeine before pulling the handset out and looking at it. He smiles tom himself when he sees the name on the caller ID.

 

“Wow, are you a mind reader now or something?” he says without even saying hello, but the flirting tone very apparent in the question.

 

_“Could be, babe, could be,”_ Kyle replies down the phone. “ _You get there safely?”_

 

“Yeah, just got bags and met up with Jenna,” he tells him and sips again at his coffee. He walks slightly further away from the couple and off to where he might not be overheard.

 

_“Good, good, need to make sure you don’t do anything stupid when I’m not there to look after you,”_ comes the sarcastic response. _“Also, what on earth was Tyler doing on your back?”_

 

“Oh so it was jealousy that got you to call me was it?” Josh asks him, a smile playing on his lips and he could feel the sparkle in his eye as he spoke. “And wait, do you have an alert on my name or something?”

 

“…no,” Kyle scoffs down the phone and laughs lightly. “Dan, wait, no!”

 

_“Josh?”_ comes a polite British accent down the phone that the drummer automatically knew was the singer. “ _He’s been sitting here waiting for any news on you for about two hours, and refreshing the band twitter feed until something came up...hey!”_

 

Josh can hear muffled fighting coming down the line and he giggles to himself when he hears his boyfriend say _; “what part of ‘I’ve got to be cool’ did you not understand?”_

_“So, yeah, I’m gonna go,”_ Kyle suddenly says down the phone.

 

“You sure?” Josh asks him, still smiling.

 

_“Yup, just wanted to make sure you were alright_ ,” Kyle says into the phone, and Josh can tell that he had moved somewhere a bit more private as the noises in the background had gone and he was now sounding a lot softer and gentle.

 

“Yeah, Ky, I’m good,” Josh says in the same kind of tone. “Oh, and the hoody looks good on you by the way,” he adds with a smirk he knew the other man wouldn’t be able to see.

 

_“Oh you saw that did you?”_ he jokes back.

 

“I saw,” and there are a few moments of silence where neither one knew what to say. “I better go,” Josh says finally.

 

_“Yeah, go see your friend,”_ Kyle agrees reluctantly. _“I’ll speak to you soon, alright?”_

 

“Try and stop me,” Josh says and they both hang up reluctantly. He looks at his screen again as it goes onto a picture of his family as his lock screen. He sighs and tucks it away into his pocket before turning and walking back to his friends.

 

He stops suddenly as he realises the two people he had walked away from had suddenly turned into three, and he thought he recognised the person with them, but he didn’t know why.

 

Shaking his head and drinking from his cup again he walks over and pulls the last spare chair out next to the new addition. The girl looks around and smiles at him so he gives her a small shy smile in return.

 

“Josh! Yay, here you are! I don’t think you two have met, but this is my sister,” Jenna introduces the woman. “She wasn’t at the wedding because of work, but she’s taken some time off and she’s coming out to New Zealand with us!” Jenna informs them all excitedly.

 

Josh puts his hand out to the woman and takes a moment to study her closely. She was slim and was very buxom, with long dyed blond, thick wavy hair spilling over her shoulders. She was older than Jenna and had a bright smile and blue eyes.

 

“Hi, I’m Josh,” he says to her as she takes his offered hand. “I’m in Tyler’s band,” he adds shyly.

 

“Hi Josh! Oh my goodness! I’m Barbie,” she says in a sickly sweet voice and smiles widely at him. “You weren’t lying Jen, my goodness he’s so cute!” she gushes, making the drummer blush a dark red.

 

“Right!” Tyler interrupts, clearly sensing discomfort from his friend. “Shall we head then?” and everyone at the table agrees and starts to stand up.

 

Josh turns and bends over the back of the chair to get his keys from his bag, and as he reaches over, he feels the woman squeeze unnecessarily close to him and then feels the unmistakeable feeling of his ass being pinched. He jumps at the feeling and then turns and stares at where it came from. The woman had managed to catch up to her sister and they were chatting and laughing together.

 

“Oh god,” Josh says, uncharacteristically for him. “Tyler save me.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone!!
> 
> So here it is! A Christmas posting for you!! Alright it's probably because I will be too busy on Monday or Tuesday to write, so I thought I would post it a bit earlier for you. 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think. 
> 
> And have a GREAT CHRISTMAS or HANUKKAH or whatever amazing festival you choose to celebrate. 
> 
> Peace and Love

Chapter Twelve

Three days later and the boys are arriving at five in the morning into Auckland International Airport. They have managed to get some sleep on the plane, but the jet lag and quick turnaround from London through Los Angeles has left both Josh and Tyler akin to walking zombies as they collect their bags and head out to the front of the airport and look for their ride.

 

Josh has had to handle the constant attentions of Barbie for the entire time they met – her wanting to join him when they stopped off at his regular music store to pick up a replacement mouthpiece for the trumpet and then that evening when he and the woman had let Tyler and Jenna have some ‘alone time’ while he took her to a movie.

 

It had been hard work, and no one had yet explained to him why she was so obsessed with being around him constantly. As they loaded their things into the mini bus waiting for them with Mark at the doors, Josh hugs him tightly as if he was a life raft and his way to safety and sanity again.

 

“Oh, hai Mark,” Josh says with an accent and Tyler laughs loudly and claps him on the back before heading to pack the mini-bus with their stuff.

 

“Dude, who’s the girl?” Mark asks him as he jumps into the back of the vehicle, pulling his friend in after him so he didn’t have to sit next to her again. He had managed a twelve-hour reprieve on the plane, but as soon as they had landed she had weaved her way next to him again and started talking about sightseeing together.

 

“She’s Jenna’s older sister,” Josh says under his breath and then smiles a wide, super fake, but enthusiastic smile as the two women also climb into the back with Tyler following them.

 

There is just enough room for them all in the back if Jenna and Tyler squeeze together, but Barbie also seems to think that she needs to get close to the drummer in order to make things more comfortable.

 

“Barbie, seriously, there’s loads of room back here now!” Josh tries to tell her and moves so he is sitting closer to the film maker. “Oh, this is Mark by the way, he a really good dude, we’ve known him forever,” he tries to sell his friend to her as someone else she can focus on.

 

“Uh huh,” she answers absent-mindedly and continues to gaze longingly at the drummer.

 

Josh sighs loudly, and looks at Tyler for help, but the singer is far too interested in pointing things out to his wife to pay any attention. This wasn’t the first time the boys had been here, but it was the first time he had brought Jenna with h8im, so he was excited to point all the big things out to her.

 

“Ooh, Barbie, why don’t you listen to Tyler, he’ll give you the lay of the land and then we can decide what you wanna see?” he says light heartedly and the woman perks up at the promise of something later and inches closer to her family.

 

Josh lets his head fall back onto the head rest behind him. His beanie was covering his head and he thanked his foresight to put something other than a snap back on his head because he was freezing as soon as he walked out into the late winter weather. He pulls the sleeves of his camo jacket over his hands and crosses his arms tightly. He looks at Mark who is giving him a ‘look’ and he just raises his eyebrows in question. Mark pulls his phone out and points at it emphatically.

 

Josh lets go of his sleeves and pulls out his phone. His lock screen lights up with the movement and he looks at the time and calculates 12 hours behind quickly in his head, to figure out if he should ring Kyle yet.  Technically it was six in the evening, but he wanted to wait until he got to the hotel room and he had a bit of privacy. He had texted him when they landed, but he hadn’t had anything back, and with the way Barbie was giving him so much unwanted attention and the lack of reply from the man, he was beginning to feel frustrated. He crosses his legs and starts to swing his foot back and forth, the air from the heater blowing on the exposed skin through the hole in the knee of his jeans.

 

“You did remember that the seasons are backwards here right?” Mark asks him as he notices the drummer shiver. Josh narrows his eyes and sticks his tongue out at him as he watches Mark type into his phone.

 

_Marky-Mark: So why is she here?_

 

Josh reads the text quickly and looks up at the man and rolls his eyes hard, before shrugging his shoulders at him. Mark starts tapping away again.

 

_Marky-Mark: And she thinks she has a shot with you?_

“Huh?” Josh says loudly as he reads the message and looks up at Mark with a confused expression on his face.

 

“You ‘right Jish?” Tyler asks from behind a wall of blond, clearly not overly concerned and revelling in his job as tour guide as they start to drive through the quiet morning streets into the heart of the city.

 

“Yeah, yeah, cool dude,” he assures his friend, who had already lost interest in him. Josh shakes his head slightly and looks back at Mark, the confusion still on his face.

 

Marky-Mark: Come on dude, she’s got it bad for ya!

 

Josh looks at him completely disbelievingly, and rolls his eyes again. He looks down at his phone and starts typing a reply.

 

Josh: I’m taken though

 

He knew that Tyler would have told Mark as soon as they had landed in LA that he and Kyle were official, but keeping it between them and ignoring any media interest for the time being. As Mark reads the message he just looks up at him and scoffs lightly, shaking his head.

 

_Marky–Mark: Oh, my dear naïve Jishwa. No one knows…remember…_

_Josh: But Jenna knows about Kyle!_

_Marky-Mark: Yeah but she’s not gonna yell it around Ohio is she? She prolly thinks it’s a crush, or that you and Kyle are over…dude, you’re fair game and on the open market right now!_

Josh groans and this makes Tyler pay more attention to him. He slides past Jenna quickly and lands up almost in Josh’s lap to make sure he was alright. He puts his hand up to Josh’s forehead to check for a temperature.

 

“Ty, stop it, I’m fine” he says as he tries to move away from the hand, and giving him an irritated look.

 

“You’re groaning and making noises,” Tyler tells him, clearly concerned. Josh looks over at Jenna who has taken out her phone and is taking a quick video of the interaction. He looks then at the older woman who looks very confused at the way the scene is playing out.

 

“I’m tired, dude! And we have this radio thing this morning and all I want to do is sleep,” he explains, annoyed.

 

“It’ll be over soon and you can rest your ridiculously cute head for a good long time,” Tyler soothes him and pulls him in for a side hug.

 

“And that’s another clip for twitter,” Jenna announces and Josh sits up and looks round at the girl at the exact same time as his friend.

 

“What do you mean Jen?” Barbie asks.

 

“Everyone thinks that I’m a cover for Ty and Josh’s secret relationship, didn’t mom and dad tell you? They think it’s hilarious,” Jenna explains to her sister, genuinely surprised she hadn’t been in on the joke.

 

“Mom and dad do? Really?” Barbie asks, intrigue in her voice.

 

“Well, yeah, coz the idea is so stupid,” Jenna explains as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“Oh so you really aren’t gay then?” Barbie asks the men and Tyler shakes his head quickly and furiously starts to talk to get her attention away from Josh so he wouldn’t have to say yes or no. He was aware of the Black’s slightly outdated views on sexuality, and while Jenna was open minded, it didn’t run in her family.

 

Before anything else could be said the car pulls up outside a radio studio and the doors are opened by one of the people working inside and lets the boys out. Josh isn’t able to think of much else with his sleep deprived mind and is swept along in the motion of activity and movement going on around him.

 

\---

“I am so fucking tired!” Kyle complains as he walks out of the taxi and towards the hotel behind the rest of the band, half a day after his lover had landed in exactly the same location.

 

“Mate, you’re always tired, why is this any different?” Woody asks him in all seriousness.

 

“I didn’t sleep at all you know! Why didn’t we spring for business class? Twenty six hours? With these legs! I’m surprised I didn’t end up sawing them off just to get a bit of relief!”

 

“Kyle, will you shut up? We got those couch things,” Dan says to him, thwacking him on the shoulder to stop his complaining. ‘Those couch things’ he was talking about was the way the seats they had foot rests that went up and then turned into a bed in the economy class. Yes, they would be good for normal people, but for Kyle and his ridiculously long legs, it was just one more thing that made his journey more difficult.

 

“Yeah. And had to be snuggled up to you for the entire flight. Thanks Dan,” Kyle replies sarcastically and rolls his eyes. While he had previously had no problems with doing that – and had done in the past when it wasn’t even necessary – now he had Josh it felt wrong and like he was cheating on him. He had never felt this way about anyone else before, and it was beginning to scare him. That and the fact that he knew he was going to see him soon was giving him butterflies in his stomach and they were beating their wings stronger than ever.

 

“I won’t tell him if you don’t,” Dan says playfully in his ear and smirking flirtily, and Kyle looks at him, unimpressed and shaking his head.

 

“Nope, nuh-uh, stop that right now,” he says emphatically and Dan just looks upset as they walk through the lobby and up to the reception.

 

Bastille were due to play in Gisborne in a couple of days’ time at a download festival and he had talked the band into flying out a few days earlier so they could see Josh’s show beforehand. As far as Kyle was aware the drummer didn’t even know they were playing the same festival, let alone getting there early, so he was continuing to live up to his current reputation of surprising the man. It had become a bit of an addiction after the first time in Leeds when he saw the amazing bright and excited smile that was completely different to his normal grin.

 

Standing at the check in desk at the Sky City hotel and waiting for the woman to check them all in, Kyle helps himself to the chewy sweets that were in bowls waiting to be eaten and looks around his surroundings. The entire atrium was bright and colourfully lit. There was an escalator going into the ground and Kyle was actively fighting the urge to go and see where it went. Will was taking the lead like he normally did and checking them in so Kyle was just waiting for the slip of paper to be handed over so he could complete his details and go and find the bed he was looking forward to.

 

“Who’s rooming with who?” Will asks the group in general. “We’ve got two twins and a double,” he adds and looks at them all.

 

“Me! I have the double,” Woody shouts loudly and grabs the sign in card for that particular room. Everyone else groans loudly, as the drummer laughs and flips the rest of them off for being too slow.

 

“I’m with Charlie,” Will suddenly announces and Dan just glares at him.

 

“Traitor,” he says and Kyle looks stricken at the comment.

 

“Wait, what?” Kyle asks and looks between them all, Charlie trying desperately to look anywhere else but at the three of them and hiding his laughter. “What’s wrong with me?” he asks them all, genuinely wanting to know the reason.

 

“Aw, mate, there’s far too many things to go into right now,” Dan tells him with a smile, and Will pats him on the back. “Right let’s go, baby,” he says and physically grabs the synth player, pulling him towards the lift.

 

They get off on the third floor and Kyle trails after Dan quickly still wanting to know the exact problem with sharing with him as the singer follows the signs to room 317.

 

Standing in front of the door, Kyle stands next to his friend with his hands on his hips.

 

“You never had a problem sharing with me before!” he says, petulantly and he can feel his lower lip sticking out as he says it.

 

“I’m sorry, sir is this man annoying you?” an American accent comes from behind them, and Kyle angrily turns around to see the deep pools of brown that had been haunting his dreams for months staring back at him, with that same excited smile that had had Kyle falling as soon as he had first seen it. He looked more refreshed than the last time he had seen the man, but still exactly the same as the week before. Kyle literally squeaks in surprise, and he hears Dan chuckle to himself behind him and open the door of the room.

 

Not being able to stop himself he takes the three steps forward and gathers the shorter man up into his arms, pouring all of his emotions into that hug. He didn’t know how difficult it would be not seeing him or talking to him constantly would have been and as soon as they touch, Kyle can feel the tension completely leave his body.

 

“You didn’t tell me you were coming over here!” Josh says as they pull apart and he shoves at his shoulder to show his displeasure.

 

“Yeah, well,” Kyle says, almost shyly. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he admits finally and he is surprised again as Josh looks down both sides of the corridor quickly and pulls Kyle’s bearded face down to him, and attacks his lips softly and tenderly, but with clear intention of what he wanted.

 

“You busy?” Josh asks him softly as they pull apart to catch their breaths.

 

“I need to shower,” Kyle says softly, fully aware how much plane smell he was currently wearing.

 

“I have a shower,” Josh tells him with a wicked glint in his eye. Kyle gasps, then whimpers at the admission, and Josh takes that as consent and takes his hand and leads him towards his own room.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, so hopefully heres the moment you may have been waiting for....smut ahead.

Chapter Thirteen

Josh pulls Kyle along the corridor back towards the room he had come from. His door was still partially open from where he had rushed out of it when he had received the message that told him what room Kyle was checking into.

 

It had been a major surprise when he had found out that Bastille were also performing at the festival with them in a few days’ time. When they two men had been asked who they were most excited to see in the line up by the radio hosts, Tyler had clued them in that they hadn’t actually had time to look at the rest of the acts because it had been a last minute addition to their tour. The DJ had given a rundown of the acts, and then had mentioned at the end that Bastille were also playing. As soon as Josh had heard that he had actually choked on the piece of gum he had been chewing throughout the interview.

 

“Are you alright Josh?” the man had asked in a strong kiwi accent as Josh continued to cough, and one of the production team had run out quickly to get him a bottle of Fiji water and he unscrewed the cap quickly and downed half of the liquid.

 

“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Tyler said, hitting him on the back to help with the choking, but also trying to buy him some time. “He has a real problem with Bastille Day? Whenever it’s mentioned he has like severe feelings about everything the day stands for and he starts to choke.”

 

“Really?” the DJ says, completely disbelieving the singer and the obvious lie he had been telling.

 

“Oh, yeah dude. We’ve got to get him to some specialist for it once the tour is over,” Tyler continues, and starts rubbing circles on his friend’s back to calm him down.

 

“So this has nothing to do with the rumours going around about one of the members and you guys then?” the guy asks them slyly and Tyler and Josh both look at him, a faux confused expression on their faces.

 

“Dude? What? Aw that thing in the papers over there? Oh geez!” Tyler exclaims quickly, putting a lot of emphasis on the last word to make it sound more exasperated.

 

“Kyle was coming to say goodbye,” Josh pipes up. “We met him, uhm, at a festival over there? And we’d hung out a few times. He knew we were leaving the next day, and he has like a part time job, at…a…uhm, at a pizza place over there, and it just so happened we had ordered pizza and it was his last delivery of the night and he thought he would drop it off to us.”

 

Tyler looks at his friend and the at the DJ and just nods with a slight smirk on his lips, but with such wide and innocent eyes that the man couldn’t help but accept the explanation.

 

As soon as they had gotten to the hotel in the taxi, he had instinctively called the synth player to find out what was happening. He got nothing but his voicemail but he had finally received a call back from Woody instead, telling him exactly what had happened and what room his boyfriend was staying in.

 

All of this led to where they were now, Josh confidently but still nervously leading the taller man by the hand towards his own room which was – as luck would have it – only at the other end of the corridor from where he had found them.

 

The drummer’s room door was still slightly open, him not shutting it as he frantically left in a hurry to find Kyle. He pushes it open and holds it for Kyle to walk through and take a quick look around the large double room he found himself in. Josh closes the door quietly behind him and looks at the floor while he decides exactly what he should do next.

 

“I can’t believe you look shy right now,” Kyle comments and Josh looks up to see the man looking softly at his face, and the drummer feels a spread of heat go through him as he starts to blush and he shuffles his feet.

 

“Now, I’m certain I said something about making you forget all about a certain someone when we talked a week ago…I didn’t get to do it that night, but god I want to now,” Kyle says and walks up to Josh, grasps the side of his head firmly and sinks forward to nip at the drummer’s plush, pink lips just waiting for him.

 

Josh feels the familiar feeling of the soft hairs of his lover’s beard stroking his cheek and around his mouth and licks into Kyle’s mouth like he had been starved of it. They spend moments trying to reacquaint themselves with the peaks and troughs in each other’s mouth and Kyle groans loudly as he starts to licks behind the perfect teeth that made up Josh’s perfect smile that made anyone swoon when they saw it.

 

Josh gets pushed back against the door to the room with a loud thump and he starts to pull up at the back of Kyle’s t-shirt to get to the soft tanned skin underneath. He drags his short nails down the back of the taller man, who returns his ministrations by pushing his thigh between Josh’s legs and grinding at his prominent erection.

 

“God, you ready for me baby?” Kyle growls lowly into his ear as he licks a stripe up the side of Josh’s jaw and starts to suck at the gauge in his earlobe, causing elicit noises from the throat of the other man.

 

Josh can’t respond, lost in lust for the man he had been having exceedingly vivid wet dreams about for the past week, and he bites down on the juncture of Kyle’s neck and shoulder. As soon as the taller man feels the sharpness, he reaches down and pulls Josh up but his thighs, causing the smaller man to wrap his legs around his middle and is taken towards the large bed waiting for them in the middle of the room.

 

Instead of throwing Josh down onto it like he thought, Kyle falls backwards so that Josh is now straddling his thighs and hips and the drummer starts immediately grinding down onto the man, in turn feeling exactly how turned on Kyle was.

 

“Don’t think I’m the only one ready for this,” he says, and Kyle chuckles at the comment, before letting his own hands slide down the white basketball vest the younger man was wearing and into the back of his basketball shorts, where he could grab two handfuls of the drummer’s perfectly round ass cheeks. Realising he was also going commando caused a high pitched moan to escape from Kyle.

 

“Baby, you have to tell me what you want, cos I’m like one minute away from fucking you into this mattress,” Kyle tells his boyfriend breathlessly, suddenly completely aware of his partner’s inexperience in this and not wanting to push him any further than he was comfortable with.

 

Josh throws his head back and lets his mouth hang open in ecstasy at the admission and also as Kyle starts to reach up and suck at his nipple as he waits for an answer.

 

“Shit, god, I don’t fucking care, fuck me Kyle, please,” Josh cusses loudly and Kyle wastes no time ridding the drummer on top of him of his vest and then spinning him round so his back is being pushed forcefully into the mattress, causing even more breathlessness from the man.

 

Kyle pulls his own top off and then swats at Josh’s hands as he tries to fumble with his belt and zip of his jeans. He gives his head a slight shake and smirks at the man and puts on a show of pulling his jeans and boxers down in one as his erection springs back up hitting his lower abdomen with a soft slap, and leaving a small trail of precome in its wake.

 

“How d’you wanna do this babe?” Kyle whispers in Josh’s ear, slowly dragging his erection against the soft fabric of Josh’s still clad groin. Josh twirls his fingers around the soft dark chest hair now presented to him.

 

“You…in me…now,” is all Josh can say as he reaches up to pull Kyle back down into a blistering kiss, sucking on his tongue and refusing to let it go until Kyle softly draws his hands down the drummer’s sides, causing his back to arch at the touch. As he reaches the man’s ass again, he just grabs the waistband of the shorts and pulls them down until he is faced with Josh in all of his glory.

 

The absolutely perfectly sculpted body with the beauty of the bright colours down his right arm and his stunning cock – all of it made Kyle even more aroused than he had been before, and he wasn’t even sure that was possible. Josh’s dick, standing wide and leaking, almost purple at the end, waiting for Kyle to do whatever he wanted, was just the most erotic thing he had ever seen.

 

“Lube?” Kyle manages to grind out, eyes black and blown with lust, and Josh with his hooded eyes, revelling in the exposure in a way even he had never felt before. Normally he would be worried and self-conscious, but Kyle made him feel worshipped instead of judged as he had with all of his other sexual partners. Josh flicks his eyes to the table at the side where Kyle sees a large bottle of astroglide sitting there. He cocks his eyebrow at the drummer who flushes at the thoughts he knew were running through Kyle’s head at the size of the tube.

 

“It was the best priced,” he tries to explain and Kyle just smirks and holds up his hands in a gesture that indicated he wasn’t judging anything. Josh watches as Kyle then slicks up his fingers and then runs his hand soothingly down his thighs and nudges him so that he moved over onto his stomach. Without even needing to be told Josh immediately raises his ass so the small hole is presented to him.

 

“Oh, babes, you have no idea how amazing you look like this,” Kyle says and runs his lubed finger down the crack and over the small hole, causing a gasp from Josh at the coldness of the feeling. “Careful,” he whispers and kisses the round ass cheek, then placing his bearded cheek against it before slowly pressing into the hole.

 

Josh feels the finger pushing past the rings of muscle that waited for it. He was anticipating the burn and the slight discomfort. He had had toys and had experimented with this kind of thing before, but having something that he wasn’t controlling and the teasing that was constant by the man behind him made the feeling so much more heightened and intense for him. He had been waiting for this for so long and after months of talking to Kyle, he knew that he wanted this more than anything.

 

“More, god, please Ky, more,” he pants as he gets used to the constant thrusting from one finger and the man complies quickly by inserting two and then three fingers, stretching the man beneath him slowly and tantalisingly so that the experience could be as pleasurable as he could make it for his first time. He had never been afforded that luxury, and he cared far too much for the drummer to have it happen to him.

 

“Alright, you ready?” Kyle asks him, and Josh looks over his shoulder, biting down on his lower lip and fluttering his lashes at the bearded ma, making the whole experience even more debauched than it was. Kyle crooks his fingers and Josh immediately responds with a small cry of pleasure and tries to grind back to get the feeling again. “Yup, though that was it,” Kyle tells him and presses a quick kiss to Josh’s shoulder before pulling his fingers out completely, rubbing them on the sheet to clean them. Josh keens backwards at the loss of fullness and pants harder.

 

Kyle spends the time unwrapping a condom and sliding over his own length before slicking it up again and pressing the head at the now stretched and waiting entrance.

 

“Kyle, I’m ready, please do this,” Josh begs from underneath him, and that seemed to be all Kyle had been waiting for as he slowly and gently pushes in to the tight heat waiting for him. He moves as slowly as his stamina will let him, but he bottoms out all too quickly with a sift gasp coming from both of them as Josh feels the flushness of his boyfriend’s body now right at his hole.

 

Kyle waits as long as he is possibly able, letting Josh get used to the stretch and extra fullness he knew he would be experiencing, but as soon as he felt the small hitches in Josh’s breath and feeling of his hips trying to move themselves to get some friction, he knows that the drummer is ready, and he starts to slowly pull almost completely out of him before thrusting back in firmly, causing a howl of delight to come from Josh and that spurs him on even faster.

 

A litany of curses start to spill from the drummer, and Kyle is shocked, after spending time with him, talking to him and - covertly – watching interviews online, he didn’t even know Josh knew half of the words that he was using, but damn, if that didn’t make the whole experience even hotter for Kyle.

 

Loud slapping, groaning and cursing filled the room, and Kyle was certain that everyone in the surrounding room would be more than aware of what they were up to, but he couldn’t seem to care. Josh was in a world of his own. He had no cares about anyone else, and all he was caring about was the intense pleasure he was getting from his lover and the constant pounding he was getting on his prostate on nearly every stroke now.

 

He knew that he was not going to last much longer. His orgasm was raging through him like a freight train desperate to get to its destination, and the familiar heat started to pool in his abdomen.

 

“Ky, coming…please…” he whimpers trying to make as much sense as he can through the overwhelming feelings coursing through his body.

 

“It’s okay baby,” Kyle caresses his shoulders and kisses and bites at the back of his neck as he continues to pound into him, hips pistoning forward as hard as he can. “Come for me baby, I want to feel you,” he adds and with the permission, Josh whines long and hard as his hole starts to flutter agains the cock in his ass and Josh feel the long sticky white ropes erupt from him, in probably the most forceful orgasm he had ever experienced.

 

At the feeling and sound of his lover coming, Kyle allows himself to fall over the edge also, stilling as his seed spills into the condom still in the body of the drummer. He continues for longer than even he had felt possible and he eventually collapses on top of Josh in defeat and lack of energy.

 

“Fuck, baby, you are so fucking hot,” is all Kyle can say, his entire vocabulary deserting him in the afterglow of sex.

 

Josh collapses and rolls into a small ball, pulling Kyle’s long arms around him. He lays his head back onto the other man’s chest, and just exhales with a large genuine smile on his face. Kyle places his own chin on the drummer’s shoulder and looks at him curiously. He kisses him softly on the cheek.

 

“What?” he asks, hoping that he hadn’t broken the man he cared for so much.

 

“That was everything,” Josh says slowly and softly, still smiling. “You have no idea how complete I feel now,” he adds and shyly closes his eyes and burrowing his head into Kyle’s neck. 

 

Without having to say anything else, both men fall into a comfortable silence, just lying on the bed and enjoying the peace and company. It was obvious to both of them in that moment, that this was the beginning of something serious and nothing was going to be able to force them apart that easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you like this at all? Just for my own sanity more than anything else!
> 
> Come and find me on tumblr or twitter if you want...
> 
> Hope everyone had a great Christmas <33


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here you go, another chapter. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen

Josh had eventually decided to roll out of the bed and get cleaned up first, and that had caused an extremely upset moan from the man lying behind him. He turns around with a smile to his boyfriend and just tilts his head on the side to look at him.

 

“What? Aw, c’mon dude, I’m gross,” he giggles when he sees Kyle’s pout and wide puppy dog eyes looking back at him. “Aw, and don’t try that with me! I majored in that look!” he jokes as he walks naked to the bathroom, his pink hair sticking up in twenty different directions and still smiling like an idiot.

 

He jumps into the small cubicle, making sure the water temperature was perfect and scrubs all the stickiness from him. He can’t stop the smile. He has finally had the experience that defined him. He knew now for certain that he wasn’t bi-sexual. That sex had been the most mind-blowing experience of his life, and he had never felt that way about another person in his life. He was gay; and what’s more, he was beginning to suspect he was in love with Kyle Simmons.

 

His ass twitches slightly in protest as he quickly showers away the sex smell and washes his hair quickly and then he gets out, quickly throws a towel around his waist and strolls back into the bedroom. He sees Kyle sitting on the edge of the bed with the sheets haphazardly draped over his lap and he cocks his eyebrow at him and smirks.

 

“What?” Kyle asks him, dragging his hand over his face, the exhaustion from the long flight and the sudden burst of energy suddenly hitting him full force.

 

“Nothing,” Josh wanders around the room to get to his suitcase and gently leans forward to pull out a change of clothes. He glances at the alarm clock on the bed side table to see it is almost five thirty in the evening and he decides he should get ready for dinner – a tradition they always did together as a group on the first night in a new country. He chooses his black jeans and his white t-shirt with the faded cat heads on it and throws them on the bed before trying to pick out underwear and socks.

 

Kyle walks up behind him and wraps his arms round his middle and starts to sucks and kiss at his neck again. Josh licks his lower lip and then starts to chew on it, closing his eyes at the feeling, before suddenly realising he would not be allowed to have too many marks on him for the performance the following night and pulling away reluctantly.

 

“I’m sorry baby,” he apologises and pouts at his boyfriend. “Can’t,” he adds and Kyle understands, but it doesn’t stop him taking a swipe at the drummer’s ass as he walks past and into the bathroom himself to have his own shower. Josh hears the lock of the door slide shut and chuckles to himself again as he scratches his hands through his pink strands of hair.

 

He pulls his boxers on under his towel and then throws the still damp fabric over the back of the desk chair sitting sedately in front of the television at the other side of the room. He finds some gum and starts chewing frantically as he looks back at his clothes, trying to decide what to put on next. He pulls his t-shirt on over his head, it sticking to his body over the parts of his chest which were still damp from his shower, and then looks up as he hears a familiar knock coming from the door.

 

The knock was their password for letting the person in the room know it was a member of the crew who was on the other side and was the hook from _‘The Final Countdown’_ so it would always be recognisable. He looks over to make sure that the bathroom door was still locked and then walks over to see who needed him before the meal. His bet was on Tyler, so when he pulled the door open to find Jenna and the older curvy blond woman standing there he was extremely surprised.

 

“Oh! Hi guys, what’s happening?” he says, leaning against the door frame to prevent them from walking straight into the room.

 

He feels the gaze of the older woman scanning him up and down and he could see her mouth hang open when she stops at his muscular, creamy thighs on display from where he was just wearing his tight boxers. Josh starts to feel extremely uncomfortable with the attention his body seems to be getting from the girl.

 

“Bar wants a tattoo, and I said you would be the best one to talk to,” Jenna says excitedly, with her usual beautiful smile that always made her pretty face light up like Las Vegas at Christmas.

 

“Yeah, I want a tattoo!” Barbie suddenly says after Josh sees Jenna shove into her shoulder to get her to start saying something.

 

“Awesome,” Josh says, trying to sound interested, but cursing the fact that Jenna told her to come to him. “Couldn’t Ty help you out?” he adds, suddenly wondering why the younger blond hadn’t suggested her _husband_ as someone for her sister to talk to. He furrows his brow as he looks at Jenna who blushes furiously.

 

“Erm, to be honest, I thought you would be able to give better advice,” Jenna covers quickly, and Josh purses his lips together, raises an eyebrow and nods slowly and disbelievingly.

 

“For sure,” he replies smoothly. “Can I at least put some pants on?”

 

“Oh my gosh, Josh I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realise,” Jenna exclaims quickly.

 

“Yeah, you were the only one,” Josh mutters as he holds the door open for the two of them to walk into the room too.

 

Josh quickly picks up his phone and hopes against hope that Kyle has it with him in the bathroom before shooting off a quick text to tell him to dress before he came out of the shower.

 

He then grabs his jeans and pulls them on, the fabric sliding easily up his legs now that he had spent the past few minutes conversing at the door with people he really wished weren’t there. Not that he didn’t love Jenna, but not when his extremely hot boyfriend was showering naked not ten feet from where they were standing.

 

“So what kind of tattoo were you thinking of?” Josh asks, sitting on the end of the bed and pulling his blue and red striped socks on his feet before tucking them under the leg holes of his jeans and then starting on his shoes – an old worn pair of black Dr Martens.

 

“Oh, erm, something cool,” Barbie tries to say, showing Josh exactly how little thought she had actually put into changing her body permanently, and he raises his eyebrows as he finishes loosely tying his boots before looking back up at her.

 

“You know it’s a big decision,” he asks her, looking directly into her eyes and she just blushes furiously, giggling and nodding at the man. Josh breathes in deeply and casts a look over to Jenna, who is just looking at them both with almost visible hearts in her eyes.

 

It was at that moment that Josh suddenly realised that Jenna was trying to set him up with her sister, and he feels a dark shadow falling over his eyes as he looks at her.

 

Pulling his phone back out of his back pocket he opens up a new message.

 

_Josh – Why is your wife trying to set me up with your s-i-l?_

_Ty-Guy – huh?_

 

The reply comes back almost instantly and Jenna and Barbie are still completely oblivious to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom behind them. Josh watches as they walk over to his window and start exclaiming over the view of the Sky Tower that Josh has.

 

_Josh – Jenna is trying to set me up with Barbie. Kyle is here. When I say here I mean in my shower. Now._

_Ty-Guy – Copy that_

 

Is all he gets in reply and Josh lets his head fall into his hands as he groans loudly at the predicament he now found himself in. He hears as the faucet suddenly switches off and he hopes against hope that Kyle looks at his phone before he unlocks the door.

 

“You alright Joshie?” Jenna asks him and sits down lightly next to him on the end of the bed.

 

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine, just wishing you had said something before we left the states. I mean I know a guy in LA and Ohio who I could recommend, but I know no one over here,” he explains part of the reason why he was starting to feel stressed.

 

Suddenly the familiar knock rings out against the wood of the hotel door and Josh springs up like a rabbit to open it, knowing it would be Tyler on the other side of it.

 

He immediately pulls his best friend into a tight embrace, whispering quickly in his ear to get the girls out before they see Kyle. Tyler pulls away and slaps his friend on the back with a huge smile, that Josh recognised as his ‘charmer’ smile and he walks over to the women.

 

“Ladies!” he says loudly, and pauses by his wife to kiss her on the cheek before grabbing his sister in law’s hand like a gentleman and pulling her gently but forcefully towards the door. “I need to have a quick word with Joshua before you go anywhere, so we will meet you downstairs,” he lets the two women walk out of the doorway and then shuts the door behind them. Josh hears the older girl comment to her sister;

 

“Wow, he really is a gentleman, isn’t he? And Josh is exactly the same…”

 

“Fucking hell Tyler!” Josh exclaims after the door clicks shut and at that moment the bathroom door opens and Kyle walks out in just a towel, distracting the man from the unexpected swearing coming from his friend.

 

Tyler looks wide eyed between his best friend scowling at him from the bed and the British band member glaring at him from the bathroom, soaking wet and angry. 

 

“I didn’t do anything!” the dark haired man shouts at them both, still completely confused about everything.

 

“No, but your wife is trying to set me up with her sister! That you can do something about!” Josh exclaims, louder than he had intended. “Sorry, Ty, but seriously? Jenna knew I was having a thing with Kyle, and now this?” Josh actually feels hurt at what he feels is a betrayal of his friend.

 

Kyle moves over to the bed and sits next to Josh, holding tightly from behind and kissing him lightly on his neck and cheek. Josh instantly feels more relaxed and leans into the touch.

 

“Look, babes, I’m sure mini Eminem can say something to the hot blond he’s married to,” Kyle says gently and looks at Tyler quickly. “Seriously dude, how did you end up with her?” and Josh smacks him lightly on the hand.

 

“That’s none of your business, and how exactly are you here right now?” Tyler demands from him, clearly flustered at the half naked man holding his friend.

 

“It doesn’t matter, what matters is I don’t want to be set up with a girl, Ty! Please can you get Jenna to stop?” and Josh’s eyes go wide and pleading in a way that he knew his best friend would never be able to resist.

 

“Fine!” he relents finally, and Josh smiles widely, the tip of his tongue peeking out from between his teeth and he feels his hug get tighter.

 

“She wants a tattoo apparently?” Josh says to his friend, and Tyler looks back at him perplexed.

 

“Jenna?” he asks, confused.

 

“No doofus, Barbie,” Josh says, finally standing up and cuffing Tyler round the head. “Ky you coming with?” he asks the man on the bed, and Tyler turns to look at him dumbstruck.

 

“What? Dude, you just made a big deal about Kyle and stuff and now you want to take him shopping?”

 

“No, I made a big deal about not wanting to be fixed up, the plan is still act like we act and let people draw their own conclusions,” Josh retorts, hands on his hips and staring at his friend.

 

“Fine, whatever,” Tyler replies resigned to the drama that he knew was going to arise. “Kyle, get dressed man.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hope you had an amazing New Year! What did you all get up to?
> 
> Any interesting ideas, recommendations, requests etc for this pair are more than welcome. Im basnatural on Tumblr, so come and find me if you want?
> 
> Let me know what you think <33


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Josh leans against the barrier of the seated portion of the arena with his legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed. He yawns widely and drags his hands down his face to cover his mouth, before stretching his arms out and making a strange whining sound.

 

His head is pounding from the lack of sleep and the extremely loud and not impressive noise coming from the stage. They were there for set up and sound check and at that moment their supporting act was trying to get their sound to sound right for the size of venue they were clearly not used to performing in.

 

They had all been introduced that morning – the nineteen year old front man not wanting to join them for their traditional dinner the night before – and they hadn’t enamoured themselves with either member of the main band.

 

He rolls his eyes as the teen picks up an extended microphone pole and tries to strut around the stage as if he was the reincarnation of Freddie Mercury, only with less style and rhythm, and watches as his best friend wanders over to him.

 

“Wow,” Tyler says as he reaches the drummer. Josh raises his eyebrows and just nods along with him, not feeling the need to add anything else. “Missed you at breakfast this morning, you okay, dude?”

 

Josh huffs a quick laugh and nods, rubbing his eyes again. “Yeah, man. Just slept in, you know how it is,” he tells his friend, not giving him any more details. Tyler looks at him confused for a moment before his face contorts into some sort of realisation and his mouth drops open.

 

“Oh! Dude, no more details please!” he cries, putting his hands over his ears and starting to hum loudly. Josh bursts out laughing at the sight.

 

“Ty! Gosh, no!” he says, pulling at his friend’s wrists and making sure he was looking at him again. “I haven’t seen Kyle since we left him last night!” and he smiles at the sweet kiss they had shared before Kyle had had to go back to the hotel.

 

Kyle had managed to get back into his clothes, making Tyler extremely uncomfortable in the process. Josh finally had to drag him back into the bathroom to get dressed, realising that he was doing mainly to annoy his friend more than anything else, before they all met up in the lobby with the two blondes.

 

“Oh my goodness, Josh, you took forever, was Tyler telling you something important?” Barbie exclaims as she watches the pink headed man come towards them, being closely followed by his boyfriend.

 

“Aw, it was stuff to do with tomorrow night,” Josh deflects easily, years of trying to get interviewers off track finally paying off. “But, this is Kyle! Kyle you remember Jenna, right? Well this is her older sister, Barbie,” Josh says and he can see Jenna’s mouth drop open behind her sister, before Tyler drags her away quickly, talking lowly in her ear.

 

“Hi!” Kyle steels himself, trying to push both his anxiety at meeting more of Josh’s friends and his anger at the woman trying to flirt with his boyfriend down, as he gives her his cocky media ready grin and holds his hand out to shake her hand. He sneakily works his left hand up to Josh’s neck, and squeezes the back of it before running his hand down between his shoulder blades and hooking his thumb discreetly into the back waist band of his tight jeans in order to anchor and steady himself.

 

The act reminds Josh exactly how much of Kyle’s behaviour is a front and is reminded of the shy man he had run into in Leeds all those months before. The corners of his mouth start to twitch as he realises how much he cares for the man. He leans into the touch, to try and give him some support.

 

Barbie eyes the man closely and how close he is standing to Josh for a moment. She doesn’t seem to notice the intimate touch between them, or the completely smitten look in Josh’s eye as he looks up at the taller man. She takes his hand and shakes it firmly.

 

“So how do you know Josh? Are you one of the behind the scenes people?” she asks, her voice trying to stay light and airy, but with an undertone of hostility there.

 

“We met in the UK,” Kyle says, looking down at the other man and his smile widening. “I’m in a band too, we’re playing the same festival at the end of the week,” he adds and Barbie seems to relax at the admission.

 

“Oh, so you’re like Tyler? A really good friend?” Barbie asks, the sparkle coming back into her eye.

 

“Er, yeah, I suppose you could say that?” Kyle says to her and looks quizzically at his boyfriend who just shrugs back. “So Josh says you want a tattoo?”

 

And with that they all set off to find the nearest tattoo parlour that would accept a walk in, despite Josh trying to dissuade the woman from doing it when she didn’t have anything in mind.

 

Tyler had kept back and was walking with Josh and Kyle, but not able to update them on what had been said with Jenna, and Jenna was desperate to keep Barbie away from Josh. No one seemed to bat an eyelid when Kyle slides his hand into the drummer’s for comfort and entwines their fingers together, and this was made even more awkward when Tyler then grabbed his other hand. Josh flicks his eyes between his two favourite people and rolls them, but there was nothing that could make his heart feel any lighter.

 

\---

“Ahem,” Josh is knocked out of his memories by a small cough from behind Tyler. The noise from the stage had finished for the time being, and Josh’s head was silently thanking every divine being it could think of for it.

 

He looks up to see Barbie standing behind the singer, with a small smile on her face and searching for a return one from Josh.

 

“Hey, what’s up Barbie?” he says non-commitally and looks over Tyler’s shoulder onto the screen of his phone to see what he was doing.

 

“I was just wondering exactly what cream you would suggest for my tattoo and whether you could help me put it on?” she says shyly, a small blush creeping over her light face.

 

Josh jerks his head up, surprised at the request and feels his own face flushing.

 

“Didn’t you get it on your hip?” he asks her, and she bites the corner of her lip, trying to be seductive and nods slowly, not breaking eye contact. “Err, uhm, ah,” he stutters, and Tyler looks up at the situation quickly.

 

“Dude, I’ll do it,” he says, and looks at his sister in law. “I’ve got some really good body butter my tat guy gave me, so you can use that, hang on,” he says and jogs out of the room with a quick backwards glance at his friend to make sure he was alright.

 

There was an extremely awkward silence between them as Barbie continues to bite at her lip and look at the drummer.

 

“So, erm, how was the tattoo…uhm…experience?” he tries, shuffling his feet and crossing his arms in an unconscious attempt to protect himself.

 

“Got it!” Tyler suddenly screams from the double fire doors, and Josh audibly exhales in relief. He runs over and Josh notices how out of breath the singer is, meaning he must have sprinted to the dressing room and back. He suddenly feels a fresh wave of love towards the man. “Let’s see it then,” he says, breathing heavily, and Barbie slides the waist band of her already low jeans down to show the new design.

 

“Huh,” Josh says when he sees it and furrows his forehead in confusion.

 

“You like?” she says with a beaming smile and looks at him expectantly.

 

“Uhm, for sure, yeah,” he says. “Just a surprise is all,” he adds.

 

The small drawing on her hip was in black and nicely rendered, but there were a couple of things that were strange about it. Firstly, it was a clique symbol. As far as Josh and Tyler were aware, Barbie had never even heard their music before, so that was weird. Secondly, it was Tyler’s clique symbol. Josh looks up at his friend who was also scrutinising the image.

 

“I thought you liked Josh?” he asks bluntly, not bothering to sugar coat what might come next.

 

“I do! See!” she says and points at her hip, as if Tyler was dumb.

 

“Yeah, I see,” Tyler says. Josh can tell he doesn’t even want to argue with him, and hopes that Jenna has a chat with her later. He watches as the singer puts a heavy coating of the cream on it and tells the woman to pull up her trousers.

 

At that the noise from the stage starts again, and Josh and Tyler suddenly groan at exactly the same time. Looking up at the stage, Josh watches the drummer intently and notices that her kit could use with a different set up to make things easier for her. He walks over to them and holds his hands up quickly as their song ends, so they don’t start up more noise.

 

He climbs on top of the speakers and boxes still at the base of the raised platform and gets onto the stage before walking over to the girl who is watching him warily. He smiles at her and waves. He had been introduced to Dillon – the lead singer – but not the two girls who served as his drummer and his lead guitarist.

 

The dark haired girl sitting behind the drums just glared at him as he walked towards her. She had long, limp greasy brown hair which fell in front of her face so she could hide behind it. She was wearing old faded denim leggings and some slip on shoes, which Josh thought was an odd choice for playing the drums with, but who was he to judge. Her t-shirt was just an oversized plain white crew neck, which seemed to swallow her whole.

 

“Uh, hi! I’m Josh,” the man says as he approaches her and she just continues to eye him warily and not say a word. “Was just watching from back there and thought that if you maybe set this up…”

 

“Lola, are you alright?” a pissed off call comes from behind him and cuts Josh off rudely.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the girl replies to the boy who was now standing next to Josh and looking at him with a disgusted look on his face. “This granddad was just about to touch my set and I was about to knock his head off for going near them,” she adds and immediately Josh puts his hands up in surrender.

 

“Hey, chill dude, was just gonna suggest a better set up in case something happens mid set is all,” Josh says quickly, trying to calm the situation down.

 

“Lola can deal with her drums herself, granddad,” Dillon says to Josh and squares up to him. Josh looks at him confused.

 

“You know I’m only like ten years older than you yeah?” he clarifies and the dirty blond man smirks and scoffs at the comment.

 

“Whatever, like I’m gonna take advice from someone who wears Adidas bottoms,” the younger man retorts and looks Josh up and down with a sneer before heading back to the front of the stage to start singing again.

 

Josh walks to the front of the stage and sits on the edge of it, knowing it would be his turn to set up soon, and looks down at Tyler who was standing below him. He was about to ask his friend something before a sudden shout disturbed them again.

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? WE HAVE TO PRACTISE!” Dillon was heard shouting loudly. Josh turned to see the thin man literally stamp a foot in frustration and was giving daggers to the stage manager who was trying to calm him down.

 

“Dillon, this is a sound check, not a practise, the guys have to check too,” the kiwi tried to explain to the young brit.

 

“You realise that I have been named best newcomer?” He starts to crow loudly. “Why aren’t we given the same luxury as they are?” he continues to rage. He storms off of the stage with his two girls following him, screeching something about getting his manager on the phone.

 

The stage manager looks at his clipboard and starts to let the crew move the instruments around and bring out Tyler’s piano and Josh’s kit so they could start their own checks. He sighs and walks over to Tyler and Josh, clearly expecting another outraged burst from the more successful group.

 

“I’m really sorry guys,” he explains to them obviously trying to stop any outbursts before they start. Tyler just chuckles at him and shakes his head.

 

“Nah, dude, don’t worry,” the singer says. “We saw,” is all he has to say and puts his hand up to Josh before the drummer can disappear to set up. “Joshie, give me your hand,” he asks and he grabs his friend’s hand and climbs himself up the front of the stage to get on top and help the crew.

 

The older manager watches in awe as the two of them then go and help the stage crew set up their stuff and make sure that their instruments were in one piece. Josh looks back over at him while he waits for his top hats and cymbals to be brought out.

 

“You alright, dude?” he asks, with a small smile. The man just shakes his head and smiles back at him.

 

“Yeah bro, just not used to the acts wanting to help out,” he exclaims and Josh claps him on the back before heading over to Tyler.

 

“Do we have to travel with that douche for the next two weeks?” Josh asks him under his breath and leans agains the light wood of the back of the piano.

 

“Don’t, I’ll see what I can do when I talk to him,” Tyler replies with a roll of his eyes.

 

“My hero, Tyler Joseph,” Josh says sarcastically, and kisses his cheek quickly before running off to find the rest of his equipment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone.
> 
> Not much to say really, but just thanks for sticking with this. Thanks again for reading
> 
> <33


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, if your still with me!
> 
> Here's another chapter. Big love to @Basttop for continuing to help me with this. 
> 
> Please enjoy and comment if you feel like it : ) <33

Chapter Sixteen

Kyle wakes up slowly, not too sure exactly where he is, but as he opens his eyes and hears the familiar dulcet snoring of his good friend in the bed across the room, it hits him where he is and what he was meant to be doing. He smiles softly to himself as he remembers the previous evening and groans loudly with happiness as he rubs at his face to wake himself up fully.

 

He had reluctantly left Josh the previous night at the Thai food restaurant and when he had managed to get back to the hotel and find his room again, he had spent fifteen minutes trying to raise Dan from his own slumber to open the door for him.

 

“What the fuck?” the singer had answered the door with his eyes still closed, his t-shirt on back to front and his hair sticking up in at least a hundred different directions.

 

Kyle barges past him quickly, desperate to lie on the bed and relax. He belly flops onto his double bed and moans in delight at the comfort. Dan glares at his back and then slams the door and stomps over to his own bed, crawling beneath the covers, turning his back on him and using the switch next to him to turn off the light. He had managed to take his jeans and t-shirt off in the blackness and crawl into his own bed before falling into the deepest sleep he had had for a while.

 

Looking at his phone that he had managed to wisely plug in before he had fallen asleep he sees that he has managed to sleep for at least twelve hours. There was a good night message with love hearts from Josh and Kyle rolls his eyes at the ridiculousness of it, but he can’t help but smile and screenshot it so he can look back at it later.

 

“You’re smiling,” Dan says, making the younger man jump slightly at the noise. He didn’t realise he had woken up as well.

 

“I’m not smiling, you’re smiling,” Kyle retorts childishly, and glancing over at him again, and Dan flips him off from his own bed.

 

“So what happened to you yesterday?” he asks conversationally, and Kyle just flushes red in response. “Oooookaaay,” Dan breathes out, making the word a lot longer than he needed to, and then giggles.

 

“Oh, mature, dude, really mature,” Kyle says and rolls out of bed and into the bathroom quickly. He returns a few minutes later having dealt with his morning routine and sits back into the bed with his knees up to his chest.

 

“So was it the dramatic, exciting reunion you were hoping for at least?” Dan tries again, and Kyle puts his head on his knees and rolls to look at his friend.

 

“It was amazing man, it really was,” he admits and he smiles widely. “You know he might be the one?”

 

“The one, huh?” Dan says, as he pulls himself out of his own bed and stretches loudly. “You sure about that?” not asking unkindly, but trying to make sure that his friend was in the right head space. Kyle had never been one to fall quickly, and Dan had never seen him so smitten so fast before – even with long term partners.

 

The synth player knows he isn’t trying to belittle his feelings and so doesn’t take his comment the wrong way. He sits and stares at the singer for a moment. The only other person he had had similar feelings for had been Dan. But he knew in his heart of hearts that his feelings for Josh were slowly overtaking those.

 

He had never clicked so fast with anyone before in his life. They could sit in silence, just enjoying being in each other’s company, but when he Kyle wanted to be silly and play up like he had with Tyler the previous day he would encourage him and laugh along too. He was kind, and funny, and talented. And god he was sexy as hell, something that Kyle was all too aware of when he was in any proximity to the man. It had taken all of his will power the evening before not to push him up against every brick wall they had passed and kiss him breathless.

 

“There’s that look again,” Dan tells him. “Are you thinking of Josh when you look like that?” he asks him genuinely interested, and Kyle just nods, biting his lip. “Huh, you might be right then,” he replies with a nod, and walks over to Kyle and kisses him on the forehead before he walks into the bathroom to have a shower. “Can’t wait to see your boy in action tonight then,” he adds with a quick smirk.

 

“Don’t forget he’s my boy!” Kyle calls after him with a warning tone. He gets a cackle in reply and hears the shower start to run.

 

\---

_J – I hate teenagers_

 

The text comes in as Kyle and the rest of the guys were finishing their late lunch and planning on what time they were going to head to the venue for the concert that night. Kyle pulls out his phone when he feels the vibration come through and he looks confused at his phone when he reads the words.

 

_Kyle – you don’t hate anyone_

_Kyle – hang on, your sister has literally just stopped being a teen_

 

He replies quickly with a chuckle and looks at the rest of the group as they all look back at him, smiling and looking extremely pleased with themselves.

 

“What?” he asks them. “Stop looking at me like that! I don’t like it. It’s creepy,” he says and frowns as he walks up to the cashier to settle the tab. He pulls his card out to slide into the machine and taps his PIN out to pay it and by the time he had finished he turns back to his friends who are now sniggering at him. He glares at them until one of them explains what the problem is.

 

“Not that we don’t appreciate it dude, but really this really must be love, I mean you just paid for a meal,” Woody explains to him as he walks past, patting him on the shoulder as Kyle’s mouth hangs open in disbelief.

 

“I resent that!” he calls after his own drummer, hearing the chuckles from the rest of the band as they also pass, and feels another vibration in his pocket. He quickly fumbles to remove his phone again and see if it is Josh replying.

 

_J – yeah, but if Abs ever acted like that I would kick her butt_

Kyle snorts as he reads it. He leaves the deli style café they were in and slowly follows his friends while he looks through the messages again. He looks up to make sure he is going the right direction, but doesn’t try and catch up with them, before hitting the call icon next to his boyfriend’s name and waiting for the dial tone.

 

The call connects and all he can hear is loud drumming and guitar riffs in no particular order or sounding like anything he had heard before. He holds the phone from his ear so he doesn’t deafen himself with the noise, and then he hears a faint sound of an American accent that sounds vaguely familiar.

 

“Ky? Kyle?! I can’t hear anything give me a second!” and Kyle hangs on the line as he hears the din followed by bangs and apologies before the noise becomes more muffled and a shutting door can be heard in the background. He looks both ways at the edge of a pavement making sure he isn’t going to get hit by passing traffic before crossing the road and continuing back to the hotel.

 

“Babes, you okay?” Kyle asks down the phone and hears a loud sigh and grunt as he assumes the man is falling into a seat he had found.

 

“This band we have opening for us! They suck man! Totally suck!” Josh starts to rant down the phone, his voice sounding as frustrated as the words could make him sound.

 

“Are they really that bad?” Kyle asks, trying to keep the drummer as calm as he could from a distance.

 

“That noise? That was them! And, okay it’s not my kind of jam anyway, but it’s like they’ve never even heard music before!” he takes a big deep breath, and before Kyle is able to say anything else he continues. “And they called me ‘granddad’. I’m not a granddad am I?” his voice increases a slight octave and Kyle can imagine him sitting there with his big brown eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth jutting out slightly. Kyle smiles at the thought and lets a soft laugh escape him.

 

“Aw baby! You’re younger than me so no, I don’t think you’re a granddad,” Kyle soothes him. “And even if you were a granddad you the hottest, most sexy granddad I’ve ever seen,” he purrs down the phone to his boyfriend and imagines the blush that is sure to be adorning his face now, swallowing the cute freckles on his nose. 

 

“Really?” Josh asks him, still sounding quite distressed by the situation.

 

Kyle looks around him quickly. He had managed to make the short walk back to the hotel, but he didn’t want to follow the other guys in while he was on the phone. He notices a small empty alcove slightly near the entrance, and darts over there quickly. There is no one else around and he leans agains the breezeblock wall so he can see if anyone approaches.

 

“Baby, all I can imagine right now is you bouncing up and down on my cock the way you ride that seat when you drum,” Kyle says lowly down the phone, and he can almost hear the shudder and slight whimper from the man he is talking to. The image and the noise starts to make Kyle uncomfortable in his own trousers and he has to adjust himself quickly.

 

Josh audibly gulps and Kyle smiles again at the reaction.

 

“Does that sound good baby?” Kyle asks.

 

“For sure, yeah, that sounds…awesome. We can totally do that,” Josh sputters quickly, and Kyle huffs a laugh.

 

“Are you alone right now?” Kyle continues, playing a hunch that someone else was actually in the room while his boyfriend was complaining.

 

“That would be a negative,” Josh replies quickly and Kyle smiles even wider.

 

“Is it Tyler?” Kyle asks, now intrigued.

 

“Er, no, I don’t actually know where Tyler is right now,” Josh replies, and that makes Kyle even more curious.

 

“Ooh, interesting,” and Kyle suddenly hears a high pitched voice in the background and it hits him who he is there with. “That Jenna and her sister?” he asks.

 

“Yup, that would be right,” Josh says confirming the man’s thoughts.

 

“So me talking about all the ways I want to make you come and scream my name purely by teasing, and licking and…”

 

“Yup, sounds amazing. I’ll speak to you later,” Josh suddenly cuts him off and the line goes dead. Kyle bursts out laughing at the abrupt way he had been left, but he can’t feel upset about it.

 

In a matter of 2 hours he was going to be watching his beautiful boy slay the people of New Zealand and he gets to show him off to his friends. He was having an amazing day.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, so a couple of days early again. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who is watching and keeps reading! 
> 
> Please let me know what you guys are thinking! It does make me write faster : )

Chapter Seventeen

“I’m hungry,” Josh says from nowhere, but not looking up from his game on his phone.

 

“Open up,” Tyler tells him from his position next to him on the sofa, so Josh does as he suggests and Tyler pops a Skittle in his mouth. Josh smiles in response and continues to tap on the screen to match the same colours for Candy Crush.

 

“So this is what you do? Like before you go on and play?” Barbie asks, confused from the other side of the room, watching the two men intently.

 

They have both changed into their normal clothes for the performance, and they had literally just sat down after putting on their paint to finish the look. Josh was going for the red look today, and he sits comfortably with his legs crossed. As soon as he had walking into the room with his red leggings, basketball shorts and Nikes on, he tried desperately to ignore Barbie with her less than subtle staring still going on. He hated to think how she would be when he actually throws his vest off during the show.

 

“Not much else to actually do,” Tyler replies absentmindedly from behind his own phone, but he does turn the screen to show Josh a picture he had found on Instagram from his sister at a cat shelter.

 

“Aw!” Josh says when he sees the ginger and white fluff ball being hugged by the younger Joseph child. He smiles widely, and hits like on the screen before realising he was liking it from Tyler’s account and not his own. “Dammit, tell her I’ll like it later,” he tells his friend and goes back to his own game.

 

The door opens and loud, gregarious noises start to spill through from the stage as Mark walks through the door with his camera in his hand, filming as normal. Josh looks up from the multi-coloured shapes on the screen to see his friend fall into the room.

 

“Why, hello fellow entertainers!” he shouts from behind the camera as he scans the room taking in each person at a time. He gives a quick introduction to Barbie and then looks over the equipment at her to see her intrigued look. “Do this to make quick edits and put them online and stuff. Lets the fans see what happens behind the scenes, you see,” he explains to her quickly.

 

“I’m gonna take a walk dude,” Josh announces quickly to his friends and uncrosses his legs and stands up, stretching widely, and then bending forward to reach the floor to get the kinks out of his back before moving.

 

He takes a quick look at Tyler, the way he always does when they are in the same proximity – both men always knowing exactly what the other is doing, like they are two halves of the same whole. He sees he has moved over to Jenna and is leaning on her shoulder with his eyes closed and trying to relax himself. Normally, one of their pre-show rituals is to try and calm each other down, but this always changes when Tyler’s wife is touring with them, Josh taking more of a back seat, not wanting to come between their life together – no matter what the fans believed.

 

As if the younger man had sensed the drummer was literally about to walk out of the door, he holds both arms out making grabby hands and calls to his best friend.

 

“Jishwa,” he says simply, and immediately Josh stops in his tracks and turns to the name. He smiles at the sight of the singer, head on his wife’s shoulder and holding his arms out to him like a child, but he walks over to him anyways and stands in front of him with his hands on his hips.

 

“What?” he asks and cocks his head up and to the side, a grin on his face.

 

Tyler says nothing in response, but quickly throws his arms around the other man and pulls him onto his lap, Josh yelping – in an obvious manly way – on his way back to the sofa. He lands with a grunt onto the singer and lands with his head on Jenna who looks as shocked as Josh feels.

 

“Hi Jenna,” Josh says, his blush returning full force and slowly blending in with the red surrounding his eyes.

 

“Hi Josh,” Jenna says with a laugh, but this stops almost abruptly as she looks up and sees her sister giving her an evil look. She gives Tyler a quick side glance that not even Josh can interpret.

 

Obviously the singer can, and almost immediately the joking atmosphere has stopped and Tyler drops his arms from around Josh.

 

“Sorry, just wanting a quick good luck hug before you disappeared,” Tyler says, almost too seriously for him and Josh eyes him carefully. He gets a quick look from the singer that Josh can tell means ‘later’ and he agrees and quickly scrambles off of the couple. He ruffles Tyler’s hair and gives Jenna a peck on the cheek before heading back towards the door.

 

“Josh where are you going?” Mark asks from behind the lens.

 

“Just gonna stretch and make sure everything is okay,” he tells his friend with a small smile.

 

“Cool, I’ll come,” Mark tells him and Josh just nods.

 

“Oh! Can I come! I’d love to see what it’s like behind the scenes when things are happening,” Barbie shouts quickly and tries to get out of her tub chair as gracefully as a woman in a mini denim skirt and thigh high boots can when she is clearly not used to wearing them.

 

“Great,” Josh says grimly, and picks his red snap back up before pushing his hair off of his face and putting the cap on backwards the way he normally wore it.

 

“Wouldn’t that look better the right way round?” Barbie asks him, curiously. Josh looks at her without saying anything, and just turns back to the door.

 

“See you soon Ty,” he says over his shoulder, and heads out of the door with his new entourage.

 

\---

Josh skips down the wide battleship grey hallway towards the stage, the cacophony of noises from the idiots on stage getting louder as he gets closer. He can hear the loud clattering of Barbie’s extremely impractical shoes running after him as he goes.

 

“Josh what you doing?” Marks asks, more for the commentary for the camera than actually being interested in what he was actually off to do, and Josh shoots him a wide toothy grin over his shoulder.

 

“Gonna go and look at my kit, make sure it’s all there, and check out what’s happenin’ on stage,” he tells the camera, and he gets a thumbs up from Mark who continues to follow, his film maker mask still firmly in place.

 

“Wow, you move fast!” comes a breathless cry as they slow down, getting the lights getting dimmer and the area surrounding them getting more cluttered with equipment.

 

Josh continues to ignore the woman, really trying to get ready in his own head – his need to hit something hard and heavy now the only thing keeping him in the building and face his ongoing fear of performing in front of so many people. He loved having Jenna with them, but the fact he couldn’t calm himself down the same way he normally did with his best friend was starting to cause a feeling of panic to bubble up inside him. So he plasters on his ‘happy face’ and starts to check all of his drums.

 

As he passes a few toms he hits the skins to make sure they’re tight enough for the evening, and he hits his cymbals to hear the familiar crash to try and calm himself. He finds his collection of sticks for the evening and methodically counts them to make sure he has the right number. He feels his breathing start to calm down and even out with the familiar motions.

 

He suddenly feels a vibration on his wrist and he looks down to see that his watch is still there and he hadn’t changed it for his cuff. Cursing internally, he pulls the strap off and looks around quickly to see if he can find anyone. He can tell that the set on stage is about to finish and he hasn’t got time to finish what he was up to and go back to the dressing room.

 

“Mark!” he finally calls over to his friend, spending his time filming the car crash that was happening in front of the crowd. The dark haired man looks at him quickly and sees Josh with his watch in his hand. “Can you run back and get my band?” he pleads, and without another word he grabs the watch with a wink and disappears off.

 

He looks up to make sure that Barbie is nowhere near his stuff, and sees she is currently wide eyed and watching the performance on stage. To his surprise she looks like she is enjoying it, he hands clasped together under her chin and he can see from her profile that her eyes are wide and shining. He shakes his head to himself and pulls his phone out of his shorts pocket to see who the message was from.

 

_K – wow they aren’t good_

 

Josh smiles and chuckles at the statement, before typing a reply.

 

_Josh – really no! Where are you?_

 

He slips the phone back in his pocket before resuming the checks on the rest of the gear. He can’t ignore his phone for long though, the butterflies in his stomach just from knowing Kyle was in the audience causing too much tension for him to concentrate. Pulling it out he sees that there is a reply.

 

_K – sitting down. Back left hand corner_

 

Josh thinks for a moment, before walking up to the thick black curtains hiding the area he was currently standing in from the crowd and audience. He finds the join and quickly shoves his head through to see if he can see his boyfriend anywhere. As he sticks his face out, the gathering of people in the pit at that part of the arena immediately notices him – hard not too with his red cap and red eyes, and the fact he is one half of the main band performing. The loud screams and cheers suddenly drown out a lot of the music from the stage and Josh stops looking around, and wide eyed pays attention to the fans. He bites his lip, gives a small apologetic smile and raises his eyebrows, again in apology and slowly pulls his head back into the curtain. He brings both hands to his face, completely embarrassed about what he had just done.

 

_K – you are a complete dork do you know that?_

 

He notices come through on his screen.

 

_Josh – you didn’t see that did you?_

 

_K – babe, half the arena saw it : )_

Josh groans loudly, and doesn’t realise anyone else is around him until Barbie starts talking.

 

“Are you alright, Josh?” she asks, fawning over him again like something terrible had happened.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m cool,” he brushes her off. “Weren’t you watching Dillon?” he asks, and that is when he realises the music had stopped. “What’s happened?”

 

The teen comes storming off of the stage, closely followed by his two band mates. Josh hadn’t seen them before they went on, but he surprised to see the boy wearing silver sequined tight trousers, paired with a very tight white t-shirt and brown slip on loafers. Both girls were also wearing something metallic and white to match.

 

The kid storms past, literally shoving Josh out of the way as he passed, causing Josh to call him back to find out what was going on.

 

“ _You!_ You couldn’t let us have that could you? Had to stick your stupid ancient head in where it didn’t belong! You ruined this night for us!” Dillon yells and storms off, Josh receiving equally disgusted looks from the girls following.

 

Not believing what was happening, Josh turn to the only person there who could possibly be on his side. Barbie and he share equally as shocked looks as the stage crew run around to get the instruments replaced.

 

Tyler finally appears, clapping him on the shoulder and holding his cuff out for him.

 

“Mark said you forgot this.”

 

Josh takes the red band from his friend, still completely dumbstruck. Tyler looks at him with his eyebrows raised, the unspoken question of ‘what was wrong’ written all over his face. Josh just shakes his head, confused.

 

“I have absolutely no idea what just happened!”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tuesday everyone!
> 
> Please enjoy <33

Chapter Eighteen

“Dancing?” Josh asks his boyfriend, who is smiling like a Cheshire cat up at him from his seat in the arena.

 

The band hadn’t moved and just like when Josh and Tyler had been to see them, the boys stayed in their seats had waited for the performing band to come out to find them instead of hurrying them along.

 

Kyle grabs Josh’s hand and pulls him toward him, wrapping his arms around his hips. Josh revels in feeling like the taller one in the relationship for a moment before what they had been proposing floods back to him. He was not the most co-ordinated person in the world and he had never been good at dancing. Tyler managed to drag him around from time to time, but that wasn’t often. He looks over at his friend who is looking at back at him optimistically in return.

 

“Jish, come on, you know it’ll be fun! And then we can go and get McDonalds, and that always cheers you up…” Tyler now pleads with him to and as Josh’s head swings from his friend back to his boyfriend again, he realises that he is going to be out voted on this one.

 

Woody stands and claps him on the back in solidarity.

 

“It’s alright mate, I don’t dance either. If you stand next to Dan, you look like you’ve walked off of Strictly Ballroom,” he jokes and Josh looks at the older singer who just shoots a dirty glare to his own drummer. Woody in turn flips him off.

 

“Dancing then,” Josh capitulates to the rest of them, earning a loud cheer from the Brits and Tyler.

 

“I’ll go see who all else wants to come,” Tyler announces and disappears off quickly, fluffing up Josh’s hair on the way past, much to the man’s disgust.

 

Turning back to Kyle, who is watching him with a soft smile on his face, he sticks his lower lip out to pout to his boyfriend and show how displeased he was with the scenario.

 

“Joshua William Dun, how old are you?” Kyle demands from him sternly, and Josh doesn’t think too much about how that voice made him feel inside. Not expecting an answer, Kyle reaches out and pulls him down onto his lap, enveloping him in his long arms the way Josh always liked. He felt like he was practically purring in his embrace.

 

Josh weaves his own arm around Kyle’s shoulders and start to twist some of the longer strands of his hair around his fingers absentmindedly, the softness making him forget exactly where he was.

 

“Right granddad, I want to talk to you,” comes an irate voice from the side of the stage, and a loud thump swiftly follows it.

 

Everyone turns round and looks to see the teenager storming towards them in his loafers and sparkling jeans. Josh was more than willing to admit the entire scene was ridiculous.

 

“Who’s granddad?” Will asks the group in general, used to being the oldest out of them all, and clearly confused the comment wasn’t directed at him as usual.

 

“I think Josh,” Kyle says resentfully, as Josh had immediately slid off of his lap as soon as he had heard the commotion.

 

Josh huffs a frustrated sigh and just looks over to the kid walking towards him. He hangs his head, and pulls his black cap on to cover his hair and pulls at his black and white checked shirt – hanging undone and covering a black skin tight t-shirt and his black ripped skinny jeans - to make himself look a bit more presentable. Closing his eyes to compose himself and try and temper his own anxiety for the showdown, he grabs hold of the metal bar separating the seats they were at from the standing are and literally hops over the bar to meet Dillon.

 

“Dillon this is crazy, what’s your problem with me dude?” Josh asks as he approaches him, his hands out to his side in a gesture of peace.

 

“I’m sick of old ‘has been’ drummers who don’t even do anything getting in the way of my performance! I was killing the crowd and then you popped up and all of a sudden we got nothing from them!” he rants at the man, getting right into Josh’s face, so much so that he takes a half step backwards from him.

 

“Hey! Now come on!” Kyle shouts, and Josh puts his hands on his hips, looking to see Kyle running down the steps and then he glances to the ground. “Two things, Josh isn’t some fucking has been! And secondly you sounded like fucking crap up there!” Kyle, now clearly trying to protect his boy, and he had now stepped in front of Dillon and was using his height to intimidate him. Josh chuckles lightly behind him.

 

“Ky, it’s fine, really,” he tries to say, but is cut off by the teenager.

 

“And who are you and what the fuck do you know about this anyway?” Dillon looks the taller man up and down with a look of condemnation.

 

“Kyle ignore the brat and let’s go dancing,” Dan pipes up from behind them all and Dillon cranes his head to see where the insult had come from.

 

He is ready to launch into another tirade against them all, possibly including some profanities and character assassinations of people he had never met, when Josh watches as the kid’s face drains of all colour, and his mouth just hangs open – clearly having run out of things to say.

 

Kyle and Josh both look at Dillon curiously, and Kyle even puts a hand out to poke him and make sure he was alright, but Josh manages to stop him just in time.

 

“Do you think he’s had a stroke or something?” Kyle whispers to Josh, who just grimaces and shrugs in return.

 

“Dillon?” Josh asks him gently, trying to get his attention.

 

“You’re Dan Smith,” he says quietly to the rest of the group. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you for months, to listen to my tapes I mean, man I really want you to represent me,” he manages to spew out quickly and rushed and walks up to the barrier that Dan is sitting behind.

 

Josh stares at the completely different man in front of him now and wide eyes flicks his eyes to Kyle who is just smirking at the total change of attitude.

 

“Yeah, we get that sometimes. Guys have no idea who we are or out music, but as soon as they see Dan and realise he has ties to a production company, they’re like your greatest fan,” he explains lightly to his boyfriend, gravitating back towards him and his arms automatically pulling him close.

 

“What’s going on?” Josh jumps slightly at the voice over his other shoulder and he turns to glare at Tyler, who ends up resting his chin on Josh.

 

“Dillon came to talk, and is now love struck by Dan,” Kyle whispers. “We can’t talk too loudly, it may scare him as he is out of his natural environment,” he continues, trying to sound like David Attenborough commentating on wildlife.

 

Tyler laughs at the comment, and then pulls Josh backwards to talk.

 

“Jenna and Barbie are coming too, Mark’s head back to the hotel with the rest of the crew,” he explains quickly and Josh nods slowly, chewing on his bottom lip again. “Josh, stop overthinking this! It’ll be fine,” he assures him and Josh screws his nose up and nods emphatically.

 

“I know! I know!” he says and balls his fists up and then stretches his fingers out to try and release some tension. He wishes deep down he had already talked to his family, but he was a grown ass man and he should deal with this the way he had decided to. “Come on then, if we’re going?” he announces to everyone.

 

Kyle cups the back of his neck, not wanting to kiss him in front of Dillon and runs back over to the rest of the guys to get his stuff. Josh smiles as he watches him leave, and then turns around to see Tyler about to walk back towards the door.

 

“Shoot, Ty! Tyler,” he hisses, trying to be quiet and he walks quickly to get by his best friend’s side and grabs his arm. He notices Tyler’s sly smirk as he gets hold of him. “You ass! I knew you heard me,” Josh grumbles, and Tyler smiles widely at him.

 

“Yes, but Joshua, it is always so good to have you running after me,” he sasses back and sticks his tongue out at the drummer. Josh glares at him angrily. “Dude, I’m kidding! What’s up?” he tries to backtrack quickly, when he realises he may have actually gone a step too far in his teasing.

 

“It’s just…I dunno.” He stutters and starts to blush furiously. Tyler looks at him again and grabs him by the wrist to pulls him somewhere a bit more secluded.

 

“Shoot,” is all Tyler says to him once they had made it to the corner hear the doors.

 

“Well, if we’re going dancing? I wanna dance with Kyle…” he says and looks over at where the taller man was getting into a conversation with Dan and Dillon about something. “But, I’m getting… _vibes_ from…” he sighs, clearly not knowing how to put the next part of his sentence.

 

“From my sister in law from hell?” Tyler asks him and Josh looks up at him, the corner of his mouth trying not to curl up into a smile. His eyes can’t hide the appreciation of the joke and they crinkle up at the sides like they always do.

 

“Hardly hell, dude. More like planet Mattel,” Josh compromises. Tyler smiles and makes a face as if he was conceding the point.

 

“Yeah, well she’s hardly thrilled about her sister’s husband’s reputation, and the rumours that I’m bangin you, but hey that’s her problem,” Tyler says to his friend and he watches as Josh’s forehead furrows as he tries to follow the extremely complicated sentence, “but you wanna dance with Kyle? I’ll make it happen!” he says in his ‘vote for me’ voice and Josh laughs at the memory.

 

“Thanks candidate,” he says and gets a wink from his friend as they watch as the crowd comes walking towards them.

 

“Apparently Dillon is coming with us?” Dan asks, confused at the turn of events as much as Tyler and Josh are.

 

“Was that a question?” Tyler asks him, and from behind the back of the teenager Josh and Tyler both watch Dan put his hands out to the side and shrug whilst his face goes wide eyes and confused.

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened,” he mouths to them, and Kyle slaps him on the back, pitching him forward, tripping slightly.

 

“Natural charm and charisma mate, that’s all it was,” he says loudly and the large group head out of the arena and into the night.

 

\---

Collapsing into the overstuffed brown leather sofas that surrounded a distressed style oak table, Kyle watched as Josh sits down very closely next to him, as if to allow for more room for the rest of Kyle’s friends or Tyler to sit next to him. He flashes a quick knowing smile at the shorter man and Josh dazzles him back with his own toothy grin and a quick wink.

 

Unfortunately, it was neither Kyle’s group or the other singer that plonked themselves down next to him on the couch, but a loud, gregarious blonde that decided she had to sit as close to Josh as possible. Kyle notices immediately and rolls his eyes skyward before shooting her the evilest look he had in his inventory.

 

“Barbie, have you got yourself a drink?” he shouts over the loud baseline and chattering groups that populated the night club. She gives him a derogatory look back before glancing at Josh and smiling sweetly.

 

“No, why don’t you go and get me one?” she asks Kyle, and the bearded man almost splutters in response, before Woody appeared at the table with a large black round tray that was almost as big as Josh. He suddenly feels a grounding hand on his thigh and he looks down to see the drummer’s smaller, calloused hand squeeze his leg firmly to calm him down.

 

“Shots all around guys!” Woody shouts, and bangs the tray down onto the table, the clear liquid inside the smaller shot glasses sloshing over the edges and pooling wastefully into the corners of the tray.

 

“Okay, well let’s make this more fun and do truth or dare!” Tyler suddenly shouts, from his own position from between Jenna’s legs – who was currently sitting on a tall wooden bar stool that her husband had dragged over from the bar for her. Josh glares back at him and Tyler just wiggles his eyebrows and sticks his tongue out at him.

 

“Dude, that’s hardly fair, you know everything about me and Jen!” Josh shouts back at him.

 

“Dares for you and Jen then!” Tyler retorts, snappily.

 

All of them collect their glass, Barbie trying to complain that she didn’t normally drink and that she was going to get into trouble quickly, but her complaints fell onto deaf ears as each of them shoot their drinks down with a gasp as the extremely strong vodka hits the back of their throats and into their stomachs.

 

As if the bar staff had been waiting for it, immediately there is another tray at the table with a selection of beers and spirits and the group all choose exactly what they want. Subtly the two lovers lean forward for their drinks and then back into the seat at exactly the same time, so that it didn’t appear suspicious as Kyle’s arm circled around Josh’s back and started to slip underneath the band of his jeans, circling the soft, supple skin it found. Kyle immediately felt a tensing in the man and then he relaxed immediately as he realised who it was.

 

“Right Jishwa!” Tyler shouts loudly. “You get to go first my dude,” he announces.

 

“Why me?” Josh shouts back at him, causing Tyler to sigh in frustration.

 

“Because…you were the best drummer tonight that’s why,” Tyler says quickly and that’s when Josh knew his best friend was up to something. “Truth or dare, dude?”

 

Josh eyes his friend again whilst he takes a long gulp of the beer in his hand. “Well as you’ve already pretty much decided for me, dare,” he answers sarcastically and Barbie laughs next to him and looks optimistically at the singer.

 

“Good choice!” and Josh shakes his head at him, but continues to have a fondness on his face. “Josh Dun, I want you to choose anyone here and take them out onto the dancefloor, and give them the sexiest, raciest dance of their life,” Tyler announces with a cocked eyebrow and drinks from his own bottle of beer, and a smirk in the corner of his mouth. There is a collected gasp and cheer from the people around the table. Barbie, automatically holds her breath and looks at the drummer with hope in her eyes.

 

Josh’s eyes grow as wide as dish plates, and he stares open mouthed at his friend as he realised exactly what he had walked into. He regains his composure quickly, and takes another drink before standing up slowly.

 

He looks around the group, staring at each face teasingly for a moment and each of them either give him a pout or blowing kisses at him. He looks quickly at Barbie, but doesn’t linger on her flirty face before finally landing on Tyler’s face.

 

“Tyler, will you do me the honour of this dance,” he asks slyly, with a curious look in his eye. The singer doesn’t miss a beat as he looks over his shoulder at his wife, and apologetically shakes his head.

 

“Sorry, J. The missus won’t let me,” he says with a terrible cockney accent that caused a number of crisps and snacks to be thrown at the American from the brits in attendance.

 

“Ah shoot,” Josh says dejectedly and looks to the ground, kicking into the floor with his shoe.

 

He shucks his shirt off of his shoulders and throws it onto the sofa, almost hitting the blonde girl in the face with it by mistake. He turns around, holding his hand out and looks at the sofa again before speaking.

 

“Well, I suppose then,” he says quietly, and Barbie moves to get up and take his hand just as Josh starts to speak again. “Kyle Simmons would you do me the honour of this dance?” he flushes slightly pink as he says it and Kyle smiles at him, completely enamoured at his boyfriend’s shyness again.

 

“Second choice huh?” Kyle asks, affronted. “Fine, but you owe me a drink after this,” he says quickly, obviously not putting up much of a fight.

 

“You’re gonna do a sexy dance with a guy?” Barbie asks him loudly, clearly upset that she had not been chosen.

 

“Don’t worry, babe,” Kyle says as he stands and drains his own drink. “I’m sure your time will come,” he adds snarkily, but she clearly didn’t hear the sarcasm in his voice.

 

Kyle stands very close to Josh as he stands up and looks him up and down with a sly, interested smile.

 

“Loose the hat,” he growls, and pulls the cap off of the shorter man’s head. “I like to have something to grab onto,” he adds as he throws the article onto the sofa next to Josh’s shirt and then grabs him by the hand and pulls him towards the dance floor on the other side of the bar.

 

As soon as they are on the floor and surrounded by bodies gyrating around them, Kyle grabs Josh by the hips and pulls him flush against his body, their crotches meeting, and Josh can’t help the groan that comes from his throat as he finally has Kyle where he wants him. Their bodies start to flow to the beat coming through the speakers and immediately everyone else seems to fall away.

 

“Y’know that friend of yours has an interesting mind,” Kyle says hotly into Josh’s ear, as Josh’s hands slide around the taller man’s waist, to his backside and then starts to palm his ass through his jeans pockets.

 

“Yeah?” Josh asks coyly. “Why do you think that was his idea?” he teases, and quickly laps at the skin of Kyle’s neck that happened to just be in front of him.

 

“Because you’re far too shy and innocent to come up with this,” Kyle replies, panting slightly at the close proximity of the two of them, and the constant pawing through his jeans.

 

“Huh,” is all Josh says in reply, but immediately grinds his hips into Kyle’s causing the taller man to throw his head back at the feeling, his pants suddenly feeling a lot tighter than they had been.

 

“Fucking hell, you’re good at this,” Kyle pants loudly, and starts to increase his own rhythm to try and tease the drummer in return.

 

“Shut up Kyle and kiss me,” Josh says suddenly, and Kyle reaches forward, smashing their lips together.

 

Immediately Josh opens up for him, and licks into the other man’s mouth, hotly sucking, moaning and continuing to gyrate together. Kyle’s own wet tongue starts to dance a similar rhythm and they stay like that until one of the other dancers on the floor accidentally bumps into them and knocking them out of their own little world.

 

They pull apart with a pop, and both smile widely at each other as they realise the song has finished and people are starting to wind their way off of the dancefloor to get more refreshments.

 

Kyle entwines his fingers with Josh’s and leads him back to the table to cheers and wolf whistles. Kyle plops down into the sofa again with a wide smile.

 

“Well, that’s me converted,” he comments to the group at large. “Wood, next dance I want to see if you’re as good as that,” he adds with a smile at his long haired friend. Woody laughs loudly and flicks his own hair over his shoulder in a flirty way.

 

They continued to drink and talk and swap information between them all, but none of them noticed how quiet the older blonde woman had gotten when the two men returned. She kept looking at her phone, with fluid and tears building in her eyes, a stray drop falling down her cheek as she takes in every bit of the two men lip locked on her screen.

 

 

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tuesday Everyone!
> 
> Hope this finds you all good, and please enjoy...<33

Chapter Nineteen

Josh glances around the bathroom as he sits on the handy velvet covered stool provided for the occupants of the hotel room and waits for the running water to get to the right depth and temperature for him. He takes in the shiny polished white tiled walls and the granite floor, and admires the double person shower cubicle with rainfall ceiling and then the large extra width bath tub that was currently filling nicely for him. The steam rises and curls delicately into finger like shapes, almost beckoning him onward into the warmth he had been looking forward to for the past three days.

 

The hotel was luxury. Considering they were in town for a festival – which was typically slumming it – they had been booked into a five star hotel suite with two bedrooms, extensive bathroom and living space. They had spent the past 36 hours packing up and travelling to the coastal town where both the Americans and the British were performing – Josh and Tyler headlining the entire event.

 

Josh hums to himself as he turns the faucet off and slides into the deep bath and lies back, closing his eyes and finally letting his aching, painful muscles relax properly for the first time in about five days. Showers were good for quickness, but nothing beat being surrounded by the heat of water, and soaking languidly.

 

The journey east had been like a convoy, what with both band buses taking off at the same time and following the same route as the trucks. Josh had spent his time switching between the two buses, but admittedly spending more time with the larger British contingent because it was there he was able to relax and bond further with Kyle. When he returned to his own bus it was generally boyfriendless, and having to try and make conversation with the now quieter and more sullen Black sister. Even Jenna had noticed the strange change in her sister, but was not able to shed any light on why it had happened.

 

The bus had stopped to refuel a couple of hours before reaching their destination, and Tyler and Jenna had gone into the garage shop to stock up on the ‘bare essentials’ – Red Bull, cereal, and New Zealand candy – for the coach to snack on until the next stop. Josh had stayed behind to set up the Nintendo for an epic Mario Kart rematch that the singer had begged him for before leaving, and this was the first chance they had had to do it. The championship was currently tied at fourteen each, and this was going to be the deciding bout.

 

He had turned to Barbie who had just been sitting sullenly on the bench seat that served as one of the more comfortable couches they had been subjected too while on tour. He regarded the woman before taking a deep breath in.

 

“So…are you gonna race too? We could make it more of a team like thing, you and me against Jen and Ty?” Josh pipes up, conversationally. He smiles at her as he stands with his hands in his jeans pockets and huddles his shoulders forward trying to make himself seem invisible or smaller somehow.

 

Barbie looks up at him through narrowed eyes and considers him for a moment – almost like he was something she had stepped on and she was trying to figure out the best way to get rid of him.

 

“No, thank you. I think I’ll be fine,” she says primly and looks back at her phone Josh looks at her quickly, and decides it’s time to try and make an effort. She may be a bit forward, but she was his best friend’s family now, so he would put his feeling aside and just deal with it. He moves quickly and sits down on the sofa next to her, tightly crossing his legs away from her.

 

The woman startles and looks up at him, a suspicious look in her eyes as she searches the drummers face.

 

“What’ya up to?” he asks lightly, a smile crossing his face. The corner of Barbie’s mouth starts to quirk up slightly as she looks at him.

 

“Texting a friend,” she tells him. Suddenly she surges forward and gets into Josh’s space, her lips open and suddenly they are attacking the drummer’s mouth, sucking and licking as much as she can.

 

Josh makes a surprised noise as it happens, and starts to try and move backward, but the woman’s mouth is firmly attached to him and he then realises that her hands are quickly sliding up his thighs towards his crotch, and that’s when his mind starts to sound a major panic alarm and he manages to grab the woman’s wrists forcefully in each of his hands and pull them out to the side and behind her. She makes a small sound of distress and frustration, but she detaches herself and looks at Josh through hooded eyes and starts panting breathlessly.

 

“Barbie, I really think you have the wrong idea here,” Josh says quickly, almost shouting the words to try and get someone else back into the bus with them.

 

“Josh, baby, no,” she croons to him, and Josh visibly flinches when she uses Kyle’s name for him. “I know it’s weird, me being related to Jenna, but think of how amazing it will be!” the woman is clearly ignoring Josh’s plaintive searching for help, his eyes wide and clearly worried as she tries to talk him into starting a relationship with her.

 

“What’s going on here?” a familiar voice comes from the door to the bus, and Josh’s eyes flick up gratefully and he audibly sighs with relief when he sees his dark haired friend climbing onto the bus wearing his familiar red hoody and carrying a large bag full of food and drink.

 

Tyler stands at the entrance of the vehicle and looks between the two people he had left behind. Instantly he can see the panic on the drummer’s face and he looks angrily at his sister in law before starting to talk again.

 

“Barbie, maybe it would be best if you switched seats yeah?” he says, the subtle anger in his question clear even to the dense blond woman.

 

Tyler walks over and settles himself next to Josh and hands him a can of Red Bull, before putting his hand round his shoulders and patting him on the chest. “You alright man?” he asks, but still has his narrow eyes on the older woman.

 

Josh just nods, still not being able to verbalise his feelings.

 

“We’ll talk later,” Tyler tells him kindly, and Josh had just nodded in agreement.

 

They still hadn’t had time to talk before Josh had retired to the bathroom, and remembering the whole situation was causing Josh’s anxiety to come back full force. He takes a deep breath in, holds it for three seconds and then exhales for five, slowly as he lets the steam and bubbles surround him in the tub. He manages to complete three rounds of this successfully before the door to the bathroom flies wide open with a slam against the wall and Josh is jumping almost completely out of the bath, the water and suds sloshing from side to side and over the edge, flooding the floor and making his towel sodden.

 

“Jish, hide me, hide me now!” Tyler screams, his normal sarcastic self now sounding frantic and high pitched as he leaps the stool that Josh had been sitting on until recently and then hides down the side of the freestanding bath that was hidden from the door.

 

“What the…?” Josh looks almost dazed and confused around the room at his friend, his heart still pounding its own solo fill in his chest.

 

“Ty-ler!” someone sing songs from outside the bathroom, sounding almost sinister, and Josh flicks his eyes down to his friend, who had his finger over his lips – indicating for Josh not to say anything.

 

“Dude, I’m naked in here,” Josh hisses to the singer, who just rolls his eyes at him, as if it was nothing he hadn’t seen before.

 

“Tyler,” comes the voice again, now closer to the door that was still relatively wide open. Josh cranes his neck over the side of the bath to see who it was, and he sees his boyfriend stalking around the living area of the suite, looking behind things to find his best friend. He looks up when he hears a slosh of water from the bath and sees Josh’s pink head looking out at him confused.

 

“Hi babes!” Kyle’s face suddenly switches from calculating to glee when he notices the man. He walks over to the door and leans casually agains the door frame, admiring the naked drummer in all of his glory.

 

“What’s up?” Josh asks him, trying to ignore Tyler behind him.

 

“That little rapping menace you call your best friend, that’s what,” Kyle tells him and Josh furrows his eye brows and smiles at the man, clearly confused still. “I was using Dan’s polaroid and he stole it and hid it somewhere,” he explains.

 

“Why are you after him then?”

 

“Because Dan didn’t know I was using it, and I need to get it back to him before he realises its missing,” Kyle frustratedly explains, but with a fond look in his eyes, and he continues to flick his eyes around him to see if can see any movement from Tyler.

 

“You’re turning into a right kleptomaniac, huh?” Josh asks him with a chuckle and a grin.

 

“Nah, not turning into,” Kyle says offhandedly. “Anyway, I always give the stuff back. Have you seen him?” Kyle asks, his hands on his hips, and Josh bites the corner of his lip and scrunches his nose as he minutely cocks his head to indicate the space behind him.

 

Kyle’s eyes widen as he realises, and he starts to walk slowly towards the tub, almost as if he was going to kiss the man in the water.

 

“Well, I suppose I should go and find him then,” Kyle says as he gets closer to the bath.

 

“Uh-huh,” Josh replies, playing along. “I’ll get out in a minute and help ya look,” he adds as Kyle gets to the tub and then counts down from three on his fingers, both men knowing exactly what they were going to do.

 

As soon as the third finger was counted down, both men thrash into the water and create a massive tidal wave of bathwater that crested the side of the bath and completely soaked the dark haired singer, who immediately jumped up with a squeal of indignation.

 

Tyler stands up, completely soaked through his clothes, and he stands and glares at the two others with his mouth wide open and his arms held out to the side, drops of cooling water and soap suds dripping off of his fingers.

 

Neither Kyle or Josh can help the roars of laughter that the sight provokes from them and they continue to laugh as Tyler walks out of the room, his shoes squeaking and sloshing against the granite as he moved.

 

“I hate you both,” is all he says, without looking back at them. Kyle and Josh stop laughing and look at each other again, before exploding again with laughter.

 

\---

“So she just kissed you?” Tyler asks.

 

He had finally forgiven Josh and Kyle for his drenching after ignoring them for the rest of the evening. It was now the next day and the three of them were fetching coffees for everyone from one of the many food trucks that had been set up around the outside of the strange inside festival venue.

 

With it being the winter in this part of the world the venue was a massive inside arena where there were stalls and rides set up inside and outside the building. No one but the acts had been granted entry yet, and so the trucks were relatively easy to be served at. They were waiting for the incredibly complicated caffeine order for Will as they talked about what Barbie had done to Josh on the bus.

 

“Yeah,” Josh says, dejectedly, clearly uncomfortable talking about it and kicking at the floor with his shoe. “She really seems to think it’s a thing that’s gonna happen,” he adds a slight grimace on his face. He looks up guiltily at Kyle to gauge his reaction.

 

“What the hell are you doing looking at me like that for?” Kyle demands and Josh flinches at the question. The older man must notice as he moves forward quickly to wrap his arms around the drummer and pull him close. He rests his bearded chin on the fluffy pinkness and sighs. “I didn’t mean that,” he says calmly. “I meant you have nothing to feel guilty about,” and Josh pulls away at that and looks up, shocked.

 

“How did you…?”

 

“Babes, your face is like an open book to me,” he explains and looks around quickly, scanning for prying eyes before placing a kiss lightly on his forehead and Josh smiles shyly at him.

 

“Right, I’ll talk to Jen about it, we have to stop this,” Tyler decides forcefully and claps Josh on the back.

 

“Ty, it’s fine, I can handle it, for sure I can,” Josh tries to settle his friend down.

 

“Dude, you shouldn’t have to handle it,” Tyler exclaims to him. “You’re happy and settled. And okay I might think it’s quick and stuff, but I can see you’re happy so I’m happy. Maybe you should just suck it up and tell her about you two?”

 

Josh looks up at Kyle who just shrugs back. “Babes, I’d shout it from the rooftops if you were okay with it, so that’s up to you,” Kyle tells him and Josh looks at the floor again.

 

“I’ll think about it,” is all he says as they gather up the large number of take away cups and start to walk back to the stage area.

 

\---

The next few hours are spent hanging around the stage area as the different acts set up and sound check. With there only being the one stage it was going in running order who was to go and with the two bands being the larger bands they were at the end.

 

The Brits went up to sound check first, and they managed to get their equipment set up and run through a number of their tracks to make sure the sound was right and they were all ready for the performance. Josh and Tyler were so bored by the time Kyle took the stage that they actually joined them up there to help out – well, more like get in the way, but under the guise of helping.

 

“Hey, guys! Look, I’m a drumming god!” Kyle shouts in between songs as he stood at his tom that he used for his percussion parts in Blame.

 

Everyone looks around to see Kyle standing there, with considerable shorter arms where his arms were usually with two drumsticks in and they watch as a rather impressive fill gets pounded out on it.

 

“Mate, impressive,” Dan says, sarcastically. “You do that tonight and I’ll kill you,” he says with a wink and blows a kiss at him. Kyle – or more like Josh – flips him off and the synth player erupts in laughter at the sight.

 

Josh pulls his arms out from under Kyle’s and twirls the drumstick in his fingers and holds it out for his boyfriend. “Have this,” he says and Kyle looks at it as he realises it’s not one of the sticks he usually uses as there is a small alien head on the end of the implement and he looks at Josh. “So you can think of me when you drum,” he says with a quirk of his eyebrow and then walks to the side of the stage as they start to bring his set out and swap it out for Woody’s, so the American’s could have their shot.

 

Josh walks over to the middle of the stage and kicks at the ground firmly to see if there was any give in the floor.

 

“You think it’ll be alright?” Tyler enquires as he walks up to him, knowing that Josh was assessing his landing for his flip.

 

“Hm, should be,” Josh replies, eyeing the floor again a bit more carefully. He quirks his mouth at it as he kicks it again. “I’ve landed on worse,” he says finally to his friend.

 

“Don’t break yourself,” is all Tyler says to him as they get on with their own checking.

 

\---

The shows seem to go without a hitch. By the time it got to the end and the headlining act, Josh and Tyler had managed to relax as much as they could in the backstage lounge. Barbie and Jenna had decided they wanted to take advantage of the festival atmosphere and thankfully Josh hadn’t had to negotiate through unwanted advances. Conversely, Tyler also hadn’t had time to talk to Jenna about the situation and this was weighing heavily on Josh’s mind as well.

 

The first few tracks go with no problems and the boys are enjoying themselves the way they do every time they are on stage During a quieter part of the set, Josh looks over to the wings to see Mark standing there, looking worried and confused – a mobile phone in his hand. Tyler notices as well and when Mark points at Josh, the two performer manage to telepathically decide that Josh would go and find out what was happening and he would be back as quickly as he could be.

 

He queues up House of Gold so that he would be able to have as much time without being missed as possible, and jumps out of his seat to run to his friend. He holds his hands up, looking very confused and shaking his head as he walks up to Mark who suddenly looks relieved.

 

“Dude, what’s going on? Mid set?” Josh asks, and Mark holds the phone out to him with his finger over the microphone.

 

“It’s your mom!” Mark hisses. “She won’t take no for an answer!”

 

“What?” Josh looks at the phone as if he really hadn’t been expecting it. He looks back out onto the stage at Tyler. “Shoot, Woody!” he suddenly sees the other drummer watching everything and as he calls him he looks over quickly. “Can you go out, fill in for me, Ty will queue you up, please I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he pleads to the long haired man, who doesn’t even say anything as he walks quickly onto the stage.

 

Kyle walks out from the darkness too, and stands close to Josh as he puts the phone to his ear. He places a hand onto his bare shoulder – his shirt having been discarded earlier on in the set due to the indoor venue and number of bodies. He puts his chin in the crown of the shorter man and starts to stroke his hair as he listens to the drummer answer his mother on the phone.

 

“Mom? Everything okay?...no mom I’m mid set…where’d you hear tha…can we talk lat..? Mom, please…mom, stop, I can’t have this conversation right now…I’ll call later yeah? Love you too mom, bye.” He finally says, quietly.

 

Kyle’s hands slip around his waist and Josh turns in his embrace until he is facing him.

 

“Everything okay?” the taller man asks, clearly worried about his boyfriend.

 

“Yeah, yeah, just…y’know…mom’s,” is all Josh says, clearly distracted by the whole situation. “I gotta go…” he points back out to the stage and Kyle lets him go and watches him run back out. He tags Woody out from behind the drum set and Kyle’s friend walks quickly back to him.

 

“Fucking hell that seat bounces!” is all he says, he grins as wide as Kyle had ever seen it. When Kyle doesn’t reply, Woody looks back out onto the stage and then back at the tall man. “Everything okay?”

 

“God knows Wood,” is all Kyle says as he watches the next song start.

 

Kyle knows this performance. It was the one that really got his attention when he had first seen the drummer perform, and he loved every time he flipped from the top of Tyler’s distinctive piano.

 

As it gets to the part of the song all of the fans were waiting for, he watches Josh jump onto the top and set up for his normal flip. Kyle had heard the concern in his voice when he had looked at the stage earlier, and he had a slight hint of trepidation in the pit of his stomach as his boyfriend jumps from the corner and flips over in mid-air.

 

Almost like it was in slow motion, Kyle stills as he waits for the landing, and it was almost perfect. It would have been more perfect if Josh hadn’t landed on the outer aspect of his foot, rolled his ankle and even the people in the wings stopped and looked up as they heard a crack and scream no one had been expecting.

 

Kyle can’t move as he stands and watches his boyfriend crumple back to the floor in a heap, clutching at his ankle and not being able to stand up again.

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, a day early, but let's celebrate Kyle's birthday hey?
> 
> Hope you enjoy <33

Chapter Twenty

The sharp, stabbing, shock of pain radiated from Josh’s right ankle up into his knee and hip as he landed. He had known as soon as he had jumped that he was off his normal axis, and he honestly thought he had managed to correct himself until he eventually – and all too quickly – toppled over, crumpling like a paper doll.

 

Tyler noticed the bad landing as quickly as possible, and immediately jumped off of his position on the piano and reached over Josh’s kit to pause the track. He had rushed back to his friend’s side, kneeling on the floor and throwing the microphone out of his hand, with a loud _clunk_ that resonated around the whole arena.

 

“Josh? Josh, you okay, dude?” he asks seriously, taking in the redness and shock in his friends face as he holds his injured leg off of the stage, staring at it as if he can’t quite believe what had happened.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m cool, I’m cool,” Josh rambles quickly, hissing as the pain surges every couple of seconds through his entire body.

 

“We gonna get you out of here, a’right?” Tyler reassures him as he looks around the stage and sees Mark in the wings and he waves him over quickly. The film maker rushes on stage and crouches down on Josh’s other side.

 

“Right, J-Man, we gonna get you up, yeah?” Tyler explains and is about to get his arm under Josh’s arm to try and get him up on his good leg and get him off the stage, but he’s stopped by his friend.

 

“Nope, I’m good, trust me, I’ll get up,” Josh says, and takes a breath before putting his hands behind him to push himself up and put some weight on his right foot. Almost immediately he falls back to the floor with a thump. “Oh, nope, nononono. No walking for Josh. _Crap!_ ” he says about himself in the third person, before clenching his teeth together and grimacing with his eyes clenched shut to get through the current wave of agony and nausea flooding his body.

 

“Ready for us to help you now?” Tyler asks him, and rolls his eyes at the man, but Josh misses it. Josh just nods frantically through the pain and Tyler and Mark look at each other as they lift him off of the stage and holds him between them carefully.

 

Josh places his left foot on the ground to steady himself, and they try to take a step forward like that, but don’t seem to get too far.

 

“Dude, just lift your leg and we’ll carry you,” Mark finally tells him, and the drummer whimpers as he lifts up his foot and places all of his weight as evenly as he can between his friends.

 

They make their way off of the stage and Josh faintly hears Tyler and Mark asking one of the managers to explain to the crowd that they were finished. Josh doesn’t know if he passes out because of the pain or what, but the next thing he realises is being laid down on the sofa in one of the backstage lounges, Tyler gripping his hand tightly and Mark putting a pillow under his leg to elevate his ankle.

 

“You okay Jish?” Tyler asks him and Josh looks over at him, and notices for the first time how scared his friend looked. They had always joked about hurting themselves during a performance, but clearly Tyler had actually been talking about a personal fear rather than a hypothetical one.

 

“I’m good, give me five and I’ll walk it off,” Josh tries to give him a smile, which he knows comes out more as a grimace than anything else, and Tyler looks at him disbelievingly.

 

“Let me in, please let me through,” comes a frantic cry from the doorway and Josh tries in vain to crane his head round to look at who the voice was. He sees Kyle desperately trying to get past the security people who had turned up to make sure they were alright.

 

Kyle walks as quickly as possible to the sofa, and when he notices that Tyler wasn’t moving from his position at Josh’s side, he kneels at the head end of the couch, behind the arm and places a soft kiss to Josh’s forehead and strokes at his hair to comfort him.

 

“Baby, you alright?” he asks him, clearly worried for his boyfriend, and not caring who could see him in that moment.

 

“Mmhmm,” Josh says dopily, just trying to focus on the soothing motion of stroking on his head, and he closes his eyes to block out what was happening to his leg.

 

“You got someone on the way to look at it?” Kyle turns to the singer and grills him for answers.

 

“Dude, of course! You think we don’t care about him too?” Tyler demands back and Josh groans as they start to argue.

 

“Shut up! Jeez, I love you both so just…” and he’s cut off by a couple walking through the door holding a large green bag and wearing high visibility yellow jackets.

 

“So what’s been happening here?” the first man says as he walks up to the drummer, and looks down at the three men all huddled together.

 

“Er, bad landing from a backflip,” Tyler explains quickly and shifts so that the paramedics can do their job.

 

“Okay, so what’s your name mate?”

 

“Josh,” he replies quickly, trying to grit his teeth again as the pain starts up.

 

“Did you hit your head, Josh?” and Josh shakes his head quickly as a light shines in his eyes to look at his pupils. “Good, right, so the right ankle?”

 

Everyone nods at him and watches tensely as he undoes the all red high top on his foot and loosens the laces enough to pull the shoe off of the offending foot.

 

“Right, I’m gonna have to cut these is that alright?” he asks, looking at the red tights adorning the man.

 

“Dude, do what you want,” Tyler answers for his friend, Josh trying to ignore the movement at the end of the sofa by grabbing one hand to Kyle and the other hand to the singer.

 

As soon as the compression is broken at Josh’s knee and the tights are pulled off of his foot, he can feel the rush of swelling to the ankle and he lifts his foot slightly to try and make it more comfortable or do something that will stop the intense feeling of pressure going to his foot.

 

Kyle looks down at the appendage and he winces himself when he looks at it. The ankle was double the size he remembered it being and now a wide array of blues, greens, and purples that he was sure should never be seen on someone unless it had been painted on.

 

The paramedic takes a careful look at it, and feels around the joint as carefully as he can, noticing exactly where Josh was jerking and trying to protect himself from more discomfort as he went.

 

“Right Josh, I’m gonna just run my nail down the sole of your foot and I need you to tell me whether it feels normal, yeah?” Josh nods, his eyes still closed.

 

The man does as he said, but Josh being as sensitive as he is, he jerks the ankle quickly and he screams as he does it, not expecting the excruciating feeling he got when he did it.

 

“Yeah, cool, well Josh, looks like it’s a little trip with us tonight man,” the paramedic says finally and nods over at his colleague and the other man runs out of the room, quickly returning with a collapsible chair that they could wheel him out in.

 

The paramedics manage to get him transferred over with little difficult – after all they were used to this. Tyler finally lets go of his combined death grip on Josh’s hand and with the loss of that and Kyle behind him, Josh whimpers slightly pathetically.

 

“Kyle, pass that over will you?” Tyler asks the taller man and Kyle turns to see the black sweater he was pointing at. Tyler grabs it from him and thrusts it at Josh for him to put on so he wasn’t cold and he looks around for a coat he can put on. His eyes finally land on his multi-coloured jacket and he pulls it over his stage costume.

 

“Right who’s coming with us?” And Josh looks worriedly between his friend and his boyfriend. Suddenly the conversation he had had with his mother on the phone came flooding back to him and he looks sadly at Kyle as he grabs hold of Tyler.

 

He turn’s his concerned eyes back at the taller man, who just crouches down next to him, looking like nothing wrong had happened. Kyle reaches in and puts his arms around Josh who hugs him back tightly.

 

“Baby, don’t worry, I’ll find a lift and meet you there,” he consoles and he places a quick and silent kiss to his ear as he pulls away again with a sly wink.

 

“Can you find Jenna and let her know?” Tyler asks him, almost sorry that Josh had chosen him over the other man. Kyle nods with a smile and then claps Tyler on the back, before pulling him for a hug himself and Josh watches with surprise.

 

“And we’re off,” someone says from behind them and Kyle stands and watches them wheel his lover off and away from him.

 

And he couldn’t feel upset with the sight even if he wanted to. In fact, inside all he wanted to do was his happy dance, but what he does instead is a quiet fist pump to himself before hugging himself tightly.

 

Josh loved him. And he can’t help but feel happy about it.

 

\---

It was now two hours later and Tyler was pacing impatiently around the cubicle they had been sitting in for the entire time they had been there. Josh had been given some morphine for the pain and was drifting in and out of consciousness easily as he lay on the trolley he had been unceremoniously plonked on when they arrived.

 

They had already been to x-ray, and now they were waiting for the doctor to come and tell them exactly what the damage had been.

 

Kyle had been hot on their heels and had turned up with Jenna and Barbie as well as Dan to support him, but the three others had been told to wait in the waiting room, allowing Kyle to come through and sit with his boyfriend – something the nurses hadn’t been too happy about, trying to say that close friends were not really family. Tyler had managed to sweet talk them in a rare moment of calmness that he had exhibited after Josh had been given the pain relief and they had relented saying that no more than two people were allowed in at once.

 

Kyle therefore was sitting in the chair next to the trolley, his hand clutching at Josh’s as he slept, Kyle also managing to doze off, his mouth hanging open and to the side.

 

Tyler took the sight in as he walked, surprised at how close the two of them had gotten in such a short amount of time. He knew that when Josh fell, he fell hard, but this Kyle seemed to be a good guy. Even if he annoyed the hell out of him.

 

He shakes his head to try and stay awake and jumps a little when the curtain slides open loudly and an older grey haired man with glasses and wearing light green scrubs walks through with Josh’s notes in his hands. He glances over at Tyler, slightly surprised before walking over to the trolley and shaking Josh’s shoulder gently.

 

“Mr Dun?” he asks and Josh startles awake, swiping at his eyes and mouth to wipe away the drool that had pooled there as he had fallen into a drug induced sleep. “I’m Doctor Hill and I’m now looking after your case,” the doctor introduces himself quickly, while looking around at them all. “I’ve got the results of your x-ray and would like to discuss them. Do you want to do this with everyone here, or…” and he trails off leaving the option up to his patient. Josh shakes his head quickly and tightens his grip on Kyle’s hand.

 

“No, Tyler’s like my brother, and I need Kyle here,” is all Josh says to the man, who accepts his decision and moves to flick his computer on to show the man his bones.

 

“Well, you’ve really broken your ankle here,” he starts off and Tyler can see exactly where the bones were misaligned and it looked bad, even with his lack of medical knowledge. He looks over at Kyle who also can see the extent of the damage and grimaces. “So we’ve got to try and put it back in the right place alright?”

 

“Is it surgery?” Kyle asks him, obviously concerned for his man.

 

“Not really,” the doctor explains. “What we do is we give you a sedative to make you really sleepy and then we move it back into position and then cast it so it heals properly.”

 

Josh nods, his eyes wide, and still not entirely sure this wasn’t all a big misunderstanding. That was until he tried to move his foot and the searing pain returns, and he realises that yes, this was really happening.

 

“Josh!” Tyler exclaims all of a sudden and actually walks over to him, and smacks him on the shoulder. “You fricking broke yourself dude!” he shouts, angrily.

 

Josh looks at him and opens and closes his mouth a few times before dropping his head and picking at a non-existent speck on his sweater.

 

“Wasn’t my fault,” he mutters, and he starts to blush furiously, embarrassed that he had done it in front of the entire crowd, his best friend and his boyfriend.

 

“Whatever dude,” Tyler says to him, the concern in his face clearly belying the annoyance he was trying to portray.

 

“Okay, well why don’t we finish this discussion later, yeah?” the doctor interrupts. “We need to get Josh all sorted so you can at least get away tonight.”

 

“Cool, we’ll go out and wait then,” Kyle says and stands up to stretch and pop his joints back into places. He grabs Tyler’s arm and pulls him out of the curtain with a loving backward glance to Josh.

 

“Don’t die Josh!” the drummer can hear his best friend call as he leaves the department, and he smiles to himself.

 

\---

“Family for Josh Dun,” comes the call after about forty-five minutes and Tyler and Kyle both jump up immediately.

 

Barbie tried to weasel her way in between the men to try and get access to the man, but Tyler turned on her quickly with a stern look, and she sank back into the seat between Jenna and Dan that she had been occupying since she arrived.

 

“Only one I’m afraid,” the nurse says as she watches the two men stand up at the same time.

 

Tyler and Kyle both look at each other, but unexpectedly for Kyle, Tyler sits back down again and crosses his legs and gestures for Kyle to go ahead. Kyle looks at him surprised, and gives him a small nod of thanks and follows the blue clad nurse back through the locked doors and towards Josh.

 

He walks through a pine door and sees the man lying in his bed, smiling wildly at nothing in particular, a heart tracing beeping next to him and the blood pressure cuff on his arm inflating to take a reading.

 

“He’s still a bit high,” the nurse explains. “But the repeat x-rays look good, so as soon as he’s a bit more with it he can get away,” she tells him after writing down the numbers and then leaving them alone.

 

Kyle walks over to the pink haired man and reaches out to stroke his hair, before leaning down to kiss his cheek.

 

“Hey, babes,” he says and Josh turns his head and looks directly at him, almost surprised to see him. Kyle chuckles at the smile he gets. He can see it in the pin point pupils in the brown eyes he adores that Josh is high as a kite.

 

“Kyle! Oh my gosh! Kyle’s here!” he shouts loudly, and then giggles as he reaches up to grab at Kyle’s face. “I love your face Kyle,” Josh babbles excitedly. “They gave me something awesome and now I can’t feel my foot!” he says and Kyle can’t believe how giddy the man is.

 

“Well, I love your face too,” Kyle says and kisses his lips gently.

 

“You do?” Josh asks, eyes wide and disbelieving.

 

“How could I not?” Kyle asks him back, kissing each dimple and then the tip of his nose, watching Josh go cross eyed as he does it.

 

“I love you Kyle,” Josh sighs lightly.

 

“So you said earlier,” Kyle says and perches up on the side of the trolley with his arm around Josh’s shoulders and pulling him close.

 

“I did?” Josh asks him, and Kyle nods at him.

 

“Yup,” Kyle says, popping the ‘p’. “And just so you know,” he adds, whispering it almost conspiratorially, “I love you too.”

 

Josh gasps audibly and then puts his finger to his lips and makes a shushing sound. Kyle laughs loudly at the craziness of the situation.

 

“Do you know what else I love,” Josh asks him, linking their fingers together and contemplating them seriously. “I love your beard.”

 

“Do you?” Kyle asks, amused and swipes a hand over it, proudly and making sure it was still lying flat

 

“Yes!” Josh replies and hisses like a snake. “It’s weird. That’s why my mum rang! She wants me to have a beard too…” and just like that Josh falls back into a deep sleep, snoring almost immediately.

 

Kyle does a double take to the man next to him in the bed, and he can’t quite believe what he’s heard.

 

“What?!”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, here you go, hope you enjoy!
> 
> Big hugs to all of you lot. Thanks for all of your support for this. I love all of you who Kudos, subscribe, comment or even just reading.
> 
> And thank you Basttop still for helping with my crazy questions and frantic attacks at night : )
> 
> <33

Chapter Twenty One

Kyle lies Josh down carefully on the large bed in the suite that his boyfriend is crashing in and sits down gently on the bed next to him, pausing to stroke a stray piece of pink from his forehead. He looks down on the beautiful man, and his heart breaks as he recalls what the man had said to him in the hospital room.

 

_“That’s why my mum rang! She wants me to have a beard too…”_

Kyle strokes his beard as he remembers the manic words coming out of his less than lucid boyfriend’s mouth before he fell asleep, and contemplates the meaning behind them. Now in all possibility, Mrs Dun may have just wanted Josh to grow a beard – but even Kyle didn’t think any mother would disrupt their son in the middle of a performance to discuss personal grooming and the growing of facial hair. That only left the other possibility. And Kyle didn’t want to even consider what that might mean for his relationship.

 

He sighs deeply as he stands from the bed and thinks about getting something to keep him awake for the rest of the night. There was no way he was going to leave Josh with a broken ankle and coming down from a ton of pain killers on his own. Stroking Josh’s hair again as he stands and places a quick kiss on his forehead as he walks towards the bedroom door. He startles slightly as a slim blond woman watches him as she leans agains the door frame.

 

“Hi Jenna,” Kyle says to her quickly, uncomfortable to be seen being so close to his boyfriend by a woman whose sister was currently trying to fuck him. He ducks his head as he passes, and hopes that she just lets him go and get himself a coffee and return to Josh’s side.

 

Unfortunately for Kyle, the woman follows him out into the small kitchenette and leans against the kitchen work top and watches him boil the kettle and make his instant coffee.

 

“You know Tyler’ll be back with something soon, right?” she says softly to him, the singer having excused himself to see if the hotel bar would be able to rustle them up something to eat despite it being close to three in the morning.

 

“Yeah, but I’m not really hungry,” Kyle says, pouring the hot water into the cup to make the bitter liquid He tips three sugars into it and barely one of the small cartons of milk into it before blowing on the liquid and taking a sip. Strong and bitter. The perfect thing to keep him awake for the next twenty-four hours.

 

“You need to eat something, you can’t survive on coffee,” Jenna clucks lightly, and pulls the cup out of Kyle’s hand and places it on the counter before pulling him over to the couch and pushing him gently down onto it, the taller man sinking deeply into the plush velvet cushions.

 

“Jenna, I need to go and make sure Josh is…”

 

“Kyle, he’ll be fine. You carried him in here bridal style and he barely flinched when you put him on the bed. He’ll holler if he needs us,” she smiles at him kindly, and Kyle feels some of the tension lift from his shoulders in response.

“How are you handling this anyway?” Jenna asks after a moment of silence and Kyle’s big brown eyes look up at her in surprise. He seriously thought that the woman disapproved of him and his relationship with Josh, and so her asking after his welfare was strange for him.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he brushes off her concern. “I didn’t break my leg,” he adds, and hugs himself in the comfort of the chair. The small woman chuckles with the comment and pats him on the shoulder.

 

“Kyle, I’m sure you’ve worked out by now, but there is something about that boyfriend of yours that makes people love him,” she continues to smile as Kyle looks at her confused again. “I’m honestly shocked Ty is taking this so calmly! Josh has something about him that makes everyone look out for him and want to protect him,” she adds, her voice taking on a softer tone as she glances at the doorway into the bedroom.

 

Kyle smiles as he listens to the love in Jenna’s voice, and he is happy that Josh has people that want to look after him. He nods and chews at his lips as he agrees with what she’s saying.

 

“Yeah, he’s something special alright.”

 

“You’re in love with him,” she says to him. It isn’t even a question. She can obviously see it in his eyes and the way Kyle had been that evening. Kyle just shrugs and nods apologetically. Jenna leans over and places a kiss to his cheek, above the fine beard.

 

“Good. He deserves you,” is all she says.

 

A door opens from behind them, and Jenna puts a reassuring hand on Kyle’s arm as he jumps slightly and they both turn to see who was coming in. Tyler clumsily shoves the door open as wide as it can go, but it immediately shuts in his face again, and the two on the couch look at each other smirking as they hear him not quite cursing the inanimate object from behind the door.

 

The door opens again, and this time the tanned, dark haired gently pushes it and backs in, balancing the trays he was holding as he walked in.

 

“Thanks for the help, guys,” he says loudly as the door closes softly behind him and he glares at the pair still sitting down, holding back their laughter. “Fine, food is all mine,” is all he says and with that Kyle and Jenna decide to get up and help him.

 

\---

Josh scrunches his eyes together before daring to open one of his eyes to see what was happening. He can’t remember much from the previous night. He remembers a lot of pain and then not feeling very much.

 

A memory flicks into his head of a tall bearded man telling him he loved him, and he can feel a smile spread over his face. He scratches at his eyes to clean them and he looks around the darkened room. He sees the light from the main area of the suite shining under the door but he has no idea what time it is. The curtains have been drawn over the windows and the blackout fabric is doing its job.

 

The door opens quietly and a figure slips in. Silhouetted against the light in the living area, Josh can see Kyle trying to quietly close the door, wearing black and white checked boxers and a plain white t-shirt and nothing else. He can only assume his boyfriend had needed to use the facilities and he smiles again. Scratching at his head, knowing his mop of curls would be an amazing sight to behold, but not caring enough to be embarrassed, he coughs lightly to get Kyle’s attention.

 

The taller man actually jumps a few inches in the air which only makes Josh laugh a bit harder as Kyle then clasps his chest in shock.

 

“What the fuck!” he exclaims loudly, and Josh smiles widely, knowing he was shooting him his best megawatt smile. “You’re awake!” he adds and returns the smile and walks quickly over to the bed and perches on the edge of it, sitting on one of his legs.

 

Josh immediately throws his covers back and tries to pull Kyle closer, but immediately notices the temporary cast on his leg, and frowns at it. “Aw, crap, it wasn’t a dream,” he says, clearly disappointed in seeing it.

 

“No babes, sorry,” Kyle says and tries to inch closer to him, but settles for clasping the hand closest to him and threading their fingers together.

 

“You been here all night?” Josh asks him, suddenly slightly embarrassed that he has taken up so much of the man’s time.

 

“Yes, you idiot! You broke your leg, why the fuck wouldn’t I be here all night?”

 

Josh bites at his lip, and his brow furrows deeper as he stares at their fingers threaded together and he glances up to look at the dark chocolate eyes looking back at him.

 

“Well, it’s not like you signed up for this,” Josh starts to explain, and immediately gets a shove to his shoulder and he looks affronted at his boyfriend, shocked but with a hint of fun in his eyes despite the dull throbbing in his foot and ankle

 

“Shut up, Dun,” Kyle says. “I told you I fucking loved you last night, and I don’t tell many people that, so be fucking honoured and let me look after you,” and says it so matter of factly, that Josh knows immediately that the discussion is over. He smiles back, dimples showing and the tip of his tongue peeking through his teeth.

 

Kyle swoops down and kisses him softly. Josh pulls back, but leaves his forehead resting against Kyle’s. He rubs his nose against him and feels the gentle pull agains his nose ring as Kyle returns the action.

 

“Morning breath,” Josh explains and gazes at Kyle intently.

 

“Yeah, alright,” Kyle admits and smiles widely. “We need to get up anyway, you need to get a proper cast on today.”

 

“Ooh! I get another field trip to the emergency room?” Josh says, fake glee and sarcasm lacing his words, before pulling the man in towards him, making sure his leg was out of the way before sliding his arm around him tightly.

 

“Yup, and if you’re lucky you get a cookie too!” Tyler’s voice comes from the living room and Josh laughs loudly.

 

“Morning Ty,” Josh shouts out to him, and Tyler appears at the doorway, and groans as he notices Kyle sitting with Josh’s arm tight around his side and grabbing his hip.

 

“Oh, that’s a sight I didn’t need to ever see,” he says as his eyes roll and he slams the light switch on before collapsing into a seat that had been turned round at some point to face the bed.

 

“And yet you’re still here,” Kyle replies acidly, and glares at the singer. Tyler sticks his tongue out at him and looks at Josh, trying to ignore him.

 

“How’s the leg dude?”

 

“Broken,” Josh replies quickly before noticing Tyler was actually concerned for him. “Nah, it’s…pounding? That’s the only word I can think of,” he says and Tyler looks at him concerned.

 

“What happened, J? You never mess that up,” Tyler suddenly shows his worry, and Josh can tell even from that distance that Tyler was blaming himself for the accident.

 

“I wasn’t paying attention, dude,” Josh tells him, but Tyler still doesn’t look convinced. Josh sighs loudly and looks at Kyle quickly. He can see that Kyle knows he hiding something, and he makes the decision that he should just tell them now before letting it get to some big secret. He makes a loud growl of frustration and both men look at him, now concerned.

 

“Mom,” he starts and searches desperately for the words to make this hurt less for his boyfriend. “Well, she’s clearly been keeping tabs on us and has seen some of the stuff, and she wants me to get a girl to pretend I’m dating for a while so it doesn’t affect the tour.” He makes a clucking noise with his tongue as he finishes and waits for the barrage of abuse from Kyle and the flurry of agreement from Tyler.

 

Nothing is said for what felt like a lifetime, but Josh knows in his head it was just a few moments. He can almost write the break up speech from Kyle for him and he knew exactly how Tyler was going to spin it that it was for the best. The thing is, Josh knew it to. He didn’t want the band to be affected by his life choices. He knew Tyler deserved better than this, and it wasn’t as if their fan base didn’t have some roots in the religious community, even if that wasn’t where all of their listeners came from now.

 

“A beard,” is all that Kyle says and Josh looks at him.

 

“Huh?” he asks, and Tyler huffs a laugh from his chair, and Josh looks at him quickly, confused.

 

“See that there, that’s why I’m the song writer,” he comments at the look.

 

“Shut it, Taco Bell,” Josh snaps and turns his attention back to his boyfriend.

 

“Last night, you said your mum wanted you have a beard, but I thought it was the morphine talking,” Kyle explains. “But, yeah, that explains it,” and he chuckles mirthlessly.

 

“But that’s insane,” Tyler pipes up. “Dude, was she upset about it?”

 

“No, I mean she didn’t seem to be? I didn’t get a lot out of her, but she was all like ‘think of the band, and the fans’. I need to speak to her,” Josh says quickly and starts to look around him for his phone, and finds it under a pillow where it had obviously fallen out of his pocket.

 

Tyler gets up and launches himself at the bed, managing to just miss Josh’s casted foot, and Kyle jumps at him, his face red about to scream at the singer for not paying attention, but Tyler gets hold of the cell earning a panicked look from his friend instead.

 

“No!” he shouts and gets off the bed quickly, shooting an apologetic look to both of them. “What you need to do first is get that thing looked at and then we can get this dealt with,” he says and shoves the phone into his back pocket, ignoring the annoyed look from the drummer. “Don’t give me that look, get your shorts on and let’s go,” he finishes and stalks out of the room with both Kyle and Josh watching him completely perplexed by what had happened.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Happy Tuesday, something good has to come out of this awful day of the week. 
> 
> Please enjoy!
> 
> <33

Chapter Twenty Two

Josh stares down at his leg and then back up at Kyle, grinning widely at his new adornment. He had always loved anything that meant he could express himself in some way – the colourful sleeve on his right arm and then his individual tattoos on his left, the gauges in his ears and the ring in his nose; topped off by the tidy handwritten script of Tyler’s name on his left leg. Now he had something else to temporarily add to his individuality. He was strangely excited to have a turquoise cast on his right ankle, and he couldn’t help but admire it every other minute.

 

“Oh my god, I’m actually in love with a freak,” Kyle grins at him fondly from his left side as Josh look back at him again, joy twinkling in his brown eyes. The drummer quirks his eyebrows at him and bites his lips, trying to hide his glee, but failing miserably.

 

They’re sitting at a small, round, black coffee table at a café near to the hospital, waiting for a lift to pick them up and take them back to the hotel before they had to depart for the south of the island. Kyle’s arm was slung casually over the back of Josh’s chair, looking to all the world as if they were two friends hanging out, instead of a concerned lover making sure his partner wasn’t in too much pain.

 

Tyler had rung their tour manager and had asked him to send a car to collect them, but had made sure to give them some time to discuss what Josh’s mother had said to him the previous evening. Josh looks up as he senses Tyler walking towards them with a tray full of drinks.

 

“Y’know the way you keep bringing me food and drink like this makes me think you’ve missed your true calling as a waiter,” Kyle looks at the singer, and grabs at his side as Josh elbows him hard in the side, protecting his friend’s honour. “Aw nice, Dun! Very nice,” Kyle acts affronted, but Josh is ignoring him to organise the drinks from the tray and get his own coffee.

 

“Bros before hoes dude,” Josh tells him, without even breaking his concentration from the drink in front of him, and he looks up to see Tyler stick his tongue out at Kyle before settling down opposite the couple.

 

A few moments pass in silence, and Josh gets his pain killers out of the pocket of his black basketball shorts – the only item of clothing he was able to get over his leg that morning without any help from anyone else. He hadn’t cared how much pain he was in when he did it, but there was no way he was going to let his boyfriend or his best friend dress him. He pops the green and yellow capsules out of the packets and puts them on the table in front of him, before getting distracted by his friend clearing his throat across from him.

 

“J-dude, you can’t just pretend you got a girl, man,” Tyler eventually blurts out, and Josh looks up and narrows his eyes at him.

 

“Oh! We’re actually gonna do this?” Josh says, casting his eyes back down to his cup, picking up the silver spoon and stirring the thick foam as he tips two sugars into the cup to make his normal sweetened blend.

 

“Well, you’re not gonna are you?” the singer asks, almost infuriated with his friend, and Josh continues to stare at the creamy top of his drink, as it swirls and mixes with the dark brown bitterness beneath it. He sits silent for so long that Tyler actually kicks him under the table to get him to focus back on him. Josh’s eyes snap up at him and he feels a protective hand on his shoulder – the familiar weight of Kyle’s long fingers gripping into the flesh underneath.

 

“I don’t know Ty,” Josh says finally, and Tyler lets out a noise of exasperation at the admission. “What? It’s my mom, Tyler! What would you do if your mom had told you to leave Jenna?”

 

Tyler goes silent at that question. Josh gives him a knowing look. Tyler and Josh were both the biggest momma’s boys out there, and if either matriarch asked them to do something they would always seriously consider it before making a decision. Neither of them liked to go against what they had been asked of them, even if they thought it was fundamentally a bad idea.

 

“I get it, Jish, I do,” Tyler says after a moment. “But I wouldn’t leave Jenna for anyone. You know that,” he adds and Josh nods carefully.

 

Josh breathes in deeply and leans his head back, closing his eyes to calm himself down. Opening his eyes again he puts the two pills in his mouth and gulps a mouthful of coffee, ignoring the sharp burn at the back of his throat. He can feel soothing circles being drawn into his back from Kyle and the guilt hits him full force.

 

“Crap,” he says and his head falls forward heavily. He looks up at Kyle’s concerned face, his eyes wide, and looking deep into his own.

 

“Screw it,” he says and twists in his seat quicker that the taller man was expecting, and placing two hands on either side of Kyle’s face and gently stroking the coarse facial hair that he loves, he pulls the man’s face towards him.

 

Josh crashes their lips together – forcefully at first, but quickly moving against Kyle’s mouth more softly, teasing his mouth open and coaxing his tongue to move against his own. Kyle moans into the kiss, clearly surprised at the act but quickly joining, allowing himself to be led by the drummer’s silky lips and tongue. Josh’s hands continue to stroke, scratch and run down Kyle’s face until one hand has moved down his neck – his thumb resting in the hollow of his throat possessively.

 

They slowly pull apart from each other, panting slightly and breathing in much needed oxygen. Their lips don’t completely part, and Josh tilt’s Kyle’s head so that their foreheads are resting against each other softly.

 

“I could have gone my whole life without seeing that you know,” a sarcastic voice comes from across the table, breaking through the bubble the couple had created with the kiss.

 

Josh giggles and he can feel the flush of red colouring his cheeks as he rolls his head to look at Tyler.

 

“Mate, I don’t give a flying fuck, do you see how fucking hot my boyfriend is?” Kyle jokes and Josh can see from the corner of his eye that he can’t keep his own smile off of his face.

 

Tyler rolls his eyes playfully and crosses his arms. “Whatever, man, I get to look at him sweaty and shirtless for most of the year,” he jokes back.

 

“Oh you wanna play this game do you?” Kyle’s voice raises and he turns to face the singer, his hand sliding down Josh’s back and squeezing at his waist.

 

“Oh look!” Josh says loudly, stopping his boyfriend before he can say anything that might trump Tyler’s admission and embarrass him in public any further than his public display of affection had done. “The guy in that car is waving at us! Pass me my crutches!”

 

As both of the men help him to stand using his grey elbow crutches, and move as quickly as he was able towards their car, Josh can’t help but hear something that sounded awfully like; “It’s my cock he likes more,” and he splutters and almost careens forward into the road, before catching himself and giving his boyfriend an evil glare.

 

\---

Kyle decides he wants to stay with Josh for a bit longer to make sure his leg starts healing properly. The rest of his band decide to do some sightseeing around New Zealand and so they part ways at the small town after the closure of the festival.

 

Josh and Tyler were due to play two more dates in the country, and ten head over to south east Asia for a couple more dates. None of the shows had been cancelled, and so they head on their scheduled journey down to the south of the North Island where they were due to play the Westpac Stadium in Wellington four days later.

 

The bus journey had been awkward for all involved. Thankfully it was only an eight-hour journey by the bus, but Barbie had spent the entire journey being as unpleasant as possible to everyone on board, including her sister.

 

She had given Kyle the filthiest look as he had jumped up the steps and thrown his bags next to the bench seat at the front of the bus before falling down behind Josh on the sofa, and pulling the man into his chest so that he could get comfortable with his leg up on the seat too.

 

Both of the men looked at each other and decided to ignore the woman. Neither of them were particularly fond of her to start with, and even though nothing had been officially said about the two of them, they were acting like a normal couple since the kiss Josh had initiated in public. At the show of affection between the two men Barbie scanned them up and down and huffed a loud sound.

 

“Gosh, I hope no one sees you like that, who knows what the fans will say if they see you canoodling with another man,” she says to them snidely.

 

Kyle blatantly gives her the middle finger in response, leading her to cry out in disgust and flee the communal area. She spends the remainder of the journey upstairs in the bunk area, while the rest of them – including Mark, who had decided to film the journey – spent their time playing Mario Kart and joking around.

 

They arrive in the windy and rainy capital city late into the evening and check into the Novotel on the main street in Wellington. Each person had their own room and everyone slept soundly after the long trip down.

 

Arriving at the stadium the following morning to set up and decide exactly what would be happening, Josh and Tyler get on the stage to discuss the plans.

 

“Tyler, I can drum, trust me!” Josh insists loudly. He hobbles over to his throne using his crutches and settles down into his normal position with his drumsticks in his hands.

 

“Josh, I’m telling you if you so much as tap one of those skins I’m kicking you out of the band,” Tyler shouts at him forcefully, causing the other man to roll his eyes and groan loudly.

 

A chuckle comes from the front of the stage Where Kyle is on his phone, but sitting on the lip of the platform. He knows he can’t get involved, but he’s there in case Josh need anything.

 

“Don’t encourage him!” Tyler shouts at him without even turning to look at him.

 

“What the fuck?” Kyle shouts back. “I didn’t say anything!” Tyler ignores him, and in return Kyle makes a number of rude gestures to his back.

 

“Josh you broke yourself, you are resting like you should be,” Tyler announces.

 

“Ty, for crying out loud, I am gonna be bored! If we aren’t cancelling what are we gonna do for drums?”

 

“I dunno yet,” Tyler mutters and starts to pace backwards and forwards across the stage. “Lola!” he shouts suddenly, making Josh jump so much that he drops his sticks that he was busy twirling in defiance of his friend.

 

“Have you just had a stroke?” Kyle asks him, one leg now bent up, resting on the stage and his chin resting on the top of it.

 

“Am I gonna have to deal with you for the next week?” Tyler snipes back and a snort of laughter comes from the drum kit as both Mark and Josh try and hide their laughter at the irony of Tyler having to deal with constant sarcasm. “No, guys, the drummer from Dillon’s band,” he explains to Josh, almost excited at the thought.

 

“Ty, you mean the girl who has no rhythm and I don’t even think knows what a snare is?” Josh asks him slowly, as if he is talking to a small child.

 

“You don’t think you could teach her?” Tyler almost pleads his friend.

 

Josh scoffs and just shakes his head, hating to disappoint his friend. “I’m telling you Ty, I think you’ll just have to let me…” and he trails off as he smiles manically at his drum kit. It had barely been three days since he last played, but he could feel the withdrawal symptoms kicking in already.

 

A loud crash comes from the side of the stadium, near the stage, as the two fire exit doors - that had been shut tight as far as the group on the stage were aware – swing wide open and someone bounds through them loudly, throwing large pieces of luggage to the side with a flamboyant bang.

 

“Seriously, bitches it’s been a long flight! Y’all better be ready for me!”


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

The silence that fills the large empty stadium is punctuated with shouts from the roadies and backstage crew as they continued to unpack the equipment needed for the gigs.

 

Kyle – who was still sitting on the edge of the stage with his phone in his hand – looks at his boyfriend and Tyler to get some clue as to who the man was that had bombarded his way into the hall with them, announcing himself like he was the second coming. He sees the wide smile grace Josh’s face as he realises who he is looking at and Kyle feels a knot of jealousy inside, thinking that the look was meant for only him and Tyler.

 

Josh gets up steadily on his crutches and swings himself expertly to the fronts of the stage, as if he couldn’t quite believe his eyes, and then burst out laughing loudly.

 

“What the actual frick, Brendon?!” he exclaims loudly, and Kyle hears a low groan coming from Tyler behind him.

 

“Come on guys! Be happy to see me!” the man shouts again, and Kyle finally concentrates on the new guy who has blasted into his life.

 

The dark haired man was considerably shorter than Kyle – in fact the same height as Josh he would guess, but as slight in build as both Kyle and Tyler. His hair was swept to the side, and was clearly annoying him as he kept running his hands through it, not being able to keep himself still for more than a few seconds. He watches as the man runs up to the stage and vaults up the boxes, strategically placed in front of it so he can get on the platform to see them.

 

He jumps and then pulls himself up, the veins on his forearms popping with the effort and accentuating the just visible piano tattoo on his forearm. He stands up, wiping dust off of his slouch blue jeans and petrol blue Henley. Kyle then watches as he rushes over to Josh and sweeps him up into a bear hug and swings both Josh and his crutches around in a circle.

 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Kyle shouts loudly, his protective side kicking in again and jumping to his feet and walking quickly over to where the new man had finally put the drummer down.

 

Josh was giggling lightly to himself, his tongue poking between his teeth as Kyle gets to him and steadies him and his crutches so he didn’t put any weight onto his broken ankle.

 

“Bub, I’m fine really!” Josh admonishes his lover, but Kyle gives him a disapproving look as he makes sure he has his balance. “Ky, seriously I’ve been a pro on these things since Ash broke her leg when I was thirteen,” and as if to prove his point he swings widely across the stage and then puts all of his weight through his arms to hold himself mid-air with just the grey metal and plastic holding him up.

 

The display makes both Tyler and Kyle make slight whimpering noises as they worry for Josh’s safety, but only draws a laugh from the dark haired man. Kyle shoots him a disgusted look and then looks over at Tyler.

 

“Look, man, he’s your best friend can you talk some sense into him?” Kyle asks accusingly and Tyler just looks back at him with a determined look.

 

“Jishwa, you broke yourself and your giving Kyle a heart attack, will you sit down somewhere?”

 

“Wow, so you two don’t change,” Brendon pipes up, still smiling and now standing with his arms crossed.

 

“Brendon, why are you here?” Tyler asks and turning to him and smiling. Kyle knows it’s not as genuine as Josh’s though. He may not know the singer as well as his own friends, but that much was obvious to anyone looking in on the outside.

 

“Got a call from one of your guys, saying that you,” and he rounds on Josh, rushing back to him and ruffling his pink hair, “wanted to keep drumming with that thing on your leg,” and he taps on the turquoise blue cast. “So basically, they asked me help out!”

 

“They asked you to help out?” Tyler asks disbelievingly. “They didn’t ask for a recommendation of someone, or you couldn’t have sent your drummer – who is it this week?” he continues to sass and crosses his own arms across his chest and looks at Brendon with a dangerous glint in his eye.

 

“Aw, Joseph, you sweet talker you,” Brendon gushes, sarcastically. “I could have done that, but my good friend Josh was injured and I wanted to make sure he was alright!”

 

As the two singers argue the toss about why Brendon had turned up almost unannounced, Kyle looks over at Josh again who had a look over his face that made him look extremely uncomfortable.

 

“Baby, you alright?” he asks him, and that gets the attention of Brendon, who had apparently missed the light sweet talk and worry between them when he had arrived.

 

Josh gives him a tight smile and a slight nod of the head, but Kyle won’t take that as his answer and he immediately looks around to find where he had thrown his jacket when they had arrived and he fishes around in the light brown leather to find the pain killers he had stashed away before they had left the hotel that morning.

 

“Take these,” Kyle orders and Josh looks at him thankfully, before walking back over to the chair he had been sitting on before they were interrupted.

 

Kyle watches him and then feels like heat was being bored into the back of his head, and as he turns the dark brown eyes of Brendon Urie were boring holes into him, and scrutinising every move.

 

“Brendon Urie,” he says seriously and Kyle gives him a nod of his head, indicating his had heard the man’s introduction.

 

“Kyle Simmons,” he replies and sticks out a long thin hand adorned in silver rings and Brendon just looks at the hand curiously, before he takes it and shakes it firmly.

 

Before anything else can be said a notification sounds and everyone looks around. Josh realises it is his wrist that has made the tinny noise and he looks down at his right wrist to see what it was.

 

“Uh, Ty, we’ve got that interview thing soon,” he says to his friend and Tyler makes a noise that could be mistaken for a curse if the others around him weren’t so used to his lack of swearing.

 

“Cool, well, we need to get you to the room then – “

 

“Say no more, I’m on it,” Brendon interrupts and marches over to Josh and gives him a cheeky grin. “Ready for a ride?”

 

And before anyone was able to protest – especially Kyle – Brendon had turned and hoisted Josh onto his back.

 

“Brendon! No! Dude!” he yells in protest, but there was no stopping him as he adjusts the position, surprisingly managing to keep his right ankle out in front of him and out of harm’s way.

 

“Shut up! Can’t hear you!” the excited man child screams and before anyone knows what is going on the two of them had escaped off of the stage and into the back area.

 

“What the fuck was that?” Kyle asks, dumbstruck and confused, his hands on his hips and wanting nothing more than to run after them and make sure Josh was alright.

 

“Brendon,” is all Tyler says I reply and sighs deeply.

 

“You don’t like him?” Kyle asks him, genuinely curious.

 

“No…it’s not that,” Tyler says carefully and goes quiet, contemplating his next words carefully. “Brendon is…like…the human embodiment of ADHD. He’s a lot to take at once, and I’m too stressed at the moment.”

 

“Ah, I get it,” Kyle nods sagely. “People say that about me sometimes.”

 

“Dude, you’re a breeze compared to him,” Tyler chuckles and looks around him. “Right, looks like I need to get Josh to do some notation then,” he says and Kyle claps him on the shoulder in solidarity as he starts to pick up some stuff to try and help.

 

\---

Brendon had almost galloped down the backstage corridors carrying Josh on his back as he went. The empty space was filled with the excited giggles and laughs from the two of them – the two friends not having spent much time together for the past six months with their separate schedules.

 

Josh had always tried to keep up with Brendon and Sarah in Los Angeles, but the lack of alone time and free space he had had meant he had had to choose his companions, and they would always be Tyler first and now this was being quickly accompanied by Kyle.

 

They entered an empty white room with a large brown leatherette sofa and blue fabric office chairs. The normal set up for these interviews that both of the men were used to. With a loud grunt Brendon sets Josh down in the corner of the sofa and then disappears out of the room quickly, returning bot a minute later with a crate he had managed to find and he places it in front of Josh and grabs the cuff of the drummer’s Adidas bottoms and gently places his cast up on it before settling down next to him in the comfortable chair.

 

“So, dude. What’s with the tall bearded fucker on the stage,” Brendon asks with no preamble, turning in the seat and putting his arm on the back of the chair.

 

“What?” Josh laughs at his friend, not quite believing the question that had come out of his mouth.

 

“The thin, crazy British guy who kept giving you crazy stalker eyes?” Brendon continues to throw insults towards Josh’s boyfriend, seemingly not paying attention to the apparent upset it was causing.

 

“Brendon, stop,” Josh says uncomfortably, and starts to pick at some loose threads in the seams of the chair, and chews on the inside of his cheek.

 

“Dude, you know me, I’m not one to judge anyone for their lifestyle, I’m just a bit shocked is all,” he rambles on, nudging the drummer’s shoulder to get his attention.

 

“Why shocked?” Josh asks him, genuinely curious as to what his friend was thinking.

 

“Well, just never thought of you that way, you know, the whole guys thing. I mean you had a bombshell of a girlfriend ya know,” and Josh finally looks over at the singer and sees no judgement in his eyes – and it hits him that he was actually expecting that emotion to be there.

 

“Well, I never really told anyone. Apart from Ty,” he explains and blushes slightly as he realises that he wasn’t going to be shunned by his friend.

 

“No shit, you tell him everything. Erotically co-dependent the two of you,” he jokes and gets the stink eye in return. “Joke, dude, Jesus,” he adds emphatically.

 

Brendon shifts slightly in his seat and gets a bit closer so he can get his arm around his younger friend. “How the fam taking it?” he asks quietly and Josh sighs loudly.

 

“They don’t _really_ know yet,” Josh replies and gets a look from Brendon that is clearly disapproving. “What?”

 

“Dude, I’m all for ignoring what the family want and doing your own shit, but at least explain to them before they find out from everyone else. Especially if you’re not planning on hiding it. Fuck! Dance in rainbow suits for all I care! But let them know the whole story first.”

 

“I’m not flaunting it! I’m just not shying away from him either,” Josh flushes again as he thinks of Kyle and his touches. “But, Bren seriously, he hasn’t touched me since the accident and I think I’m ready to explode right now,” he tells the other man through gritted teeth, and Brendon just looks back at him with a wide grin and giggles like a teenager.

 

“Seriously? He has someone who looks and acts like you and he hasn’t hit that in how many days?” Brendon laughs outrageously and gets a smack around the head in return.

 

“Nice, man, real nice,” Josh says and the two of them suddenly start up a slap fight, and that is how they are found when Tyler, Kyle and Jenna walk through the door to find them.

 

“Brendon! I thought it was bad enough with just Tyler, but now I have you too? Please say at least Sarah is here to help?” Jenna shouts loudly and gets a beaming smile as he stops what he’s doing, but that is soon erased as Josh smacks his shoulder and he gives him a disgusted look as the hit had obviously come after they had called a ceasefire.

 

“No Jenna, it’s just me,” he says, the stare not shifting from the drummer, and Josh just raises an eyebrow as if to _say ‘what are you gonna do about it’._

He finally moves his gaze over the rest of the group and notices the flare of heat in the tallest man’s eyes. He can see the rigid set of his shoulders and annoyance directed towards him and he smirks I reply.

 

“Don’t worry, dude,” he murmurs so only Josh can hear him. “I’ll get that sorted for you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, thanks for reading.
> 
> Sorry its been a while. Been a few real life things getting in the way :(
> 
> Please let me know what you think, any notions you have about the story and thank you always for kudos and comments. I love reading all the comments. 
> 
> <33


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO YOU LOT!
> 
> Okay, so I apologise, things got the better of me, and I have to be truthful when I say that writer's block really did become a problem. 
> 
> He we go though. It's like something must have happened yesterday to knock some sense into me because here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty Four

“Okay, I think we got off on the wrong foot,” Brendon talks quickly, and Kyle realises that he has to actually actively listen to him to make sure he gets everything he says.

 

After the interview, Brendon had announced he was whisking Kyle away for a mystery tour, and Josh had watched in amusement as his boyfriend gave him a wide eyed look and was physically dragged away from them, his mouth wide open and a serious look of concern etched into his forehead. Now the two of them were walking down Lambton Quay in the central business district, milling around the businessmen who were power walking from place to place.

 

“Huh? Oh, alright?” Kyle says, not really too sure what he was expected to say. Brendon was walking as quickly as he talked, and Kyle watched as the handsome dark haired man looked from side to side – he assumed for somewhere to stop.

 

“Sushi? You like sushi?” Brendon asks quickly and starts to pull Kyle towards a large glass fronted store with a conveyor belt showcasing funny coloured food.

 

“Dude! No!” Kyle shouts loudly and plats himself so that he cannot be moved. The American almost falls backwards as he realises that Kyle has become a dead weight and a few of the pedestrians around them tut and huff loudly as the two musicians get in their way.

 

“What?” Brendon looks confused as he turns and looks at him.

 

“Sushi! No fish! Dude, let’s go and find a Starbucks or some shit,” Kyle tells him and spots the familiar green circle indicating a coffee shop and starts to stride towards it. “Fucking sushi, why does everyone want me to eat fucking fish,” he mutters to himself as he checks both ways down the road as he crosses to get to the caffeine goodness that awaited him.

 

They finally settle down in the soft fabric armchairs that seem to be a staple in Starbucks stores all over the world. Brendon had treated the Brit to his coffee and he settles down opposite him with his legs slung casually over to arm of the chair. Kyle looks at him critically, but stirs his drink and takes a long sip.

 

“So, we here for a reason?” Kyle asks him finally and Brendon looks at him in surprise, his attention clearly taken by something happening around him.

 

“Huh? Yeah, dude, wrong foot! So yeah, I’m a little protective of the li’l dude, so seeing you there, I had no idea who you were and why you were there,” Brendon’s talking fast again, and Kyle widens his eyes and drinks faster so he can wake up to what’s being said.

 

“Josh? Dude, I’m not gonna hurt him, I don’t think anyone could,” Kyle says to him, slightly surprised that he would even consider it. “Also, I think Tyler has you covered on the shovel talk anyway,” he adds with a small laugh.

 

“Yeah, Tyler’s intense,” Brendon laughs, and Kyle looks over at the man who has clearly never heard of irony. “So, you were giving me the evil eye during that whole interview, so if that interviewer didn’t catch on I’ll be hugely surprised,” he cocks an eyebrow and winks at him, and surprising himself Kyle rolls his eyes and laughs. For some reason, he was starting to like this guy who just said whatever came into his head. “But, seriously now, Josh isn’t gonna come out and profess his love for you, you know that right?”

 

Kyle takes a sip from his cup and looks at Brendon before settling it back down on the coffee table and sitting back, crossing his legs. “He’s already told me he loves me,” he tells him, choosing his words carefully so as not to upset the man in front of him.

 

“Nah, I didn’t mean like that,” Brendon says, gulping his coffee and earning a wince from Kyle – the liquid would have been hella hot. “Like he’s not gonna scream it from the rooftops and – I dunno – take out a twitter ad or something.”

 

“Aw, mate I don’t want a fucking twitter ad,” Kyle laughs at the thought. “I’ve told him and I suppose I’ll have to tell you too,” he sighs, rubbing his beard absentmindedly. “I’m ready to go as fast or as slow as he wants, screw everyone else.”

 

“Awesome! Fan-fucking-tastic!” Brendon smiles at him and hits Kyle loudly on the shoulder, and the Brit glares at him in response. “Now that’s over with, he’s fucking horny, so pound his ass already,” he says matter of factly.

 

\---

 

“I’m bored Tyler. Tyler. Tyler I’m bored. Bored. I’m bored Tyler,” Josh whines from his seat at the large pine table opposite his best friend. They had holed up in the bar area of the hotel, it being quiet enough for Tyler to do what he felt he needed, but busy enough to keep Josh occupied.

 

He was sprawled out over the surface of the table, his head on his arm and was tapping his pen against the edge of the wood like it was a new drumstick. Tyler was studiously ignoring him, trying to work out the best set list for the upcoming gigs that Brendon would be able to learn and play seamlessly with him.

 

“Ty-leeeer!” Josh drags his name out to really annoy him and then puts at him when Tyler finally glances his way.

 

“Why is it when Brendon’s around you turn into a sixth grader?” Tyler asks him in all seriousness. Josh looks at him with mock disgust.

 

“I do not!” he exclaims and clutches his hand to his chest. “And anyway, he’s not here.”

 

“No! I now, and I’m glad, might get some work done,” Tyler mutters to himself as he starts to write things down on the sheet in front of him.

 

“You’re in an awesome mood,” Josh comments, and moves so he’s looking at Tyler more intensely, his arms folded in front of him and his chin resting on them. Tyler glares back at him.

 

“Seriously, dude, why _aren’t_ we cancelling this show? Like, we should just go home and you rest and heal. We shouldn’t be doing this,” Tyler puts his pen down and scratches his face.

 

“Because, they all come for you anyway! I’m completely incidental Ty, you’re the fricking talent!” Tyler scoffs at the response.

 

“Yeah, you didn’t convince me when you told that interviewer that, and you’re not convincing me now,” he rolls his eyes and puts his head in his hands. “Why aren’t you doing notation for Brendon anyway?”

 

“Because you’ll give him the tracks, he’ll listen to them and then I’ll rehearse with him. Ty it’s gonna be fine. You can do this y’know,” Josh’s eyes soften as he looks up at his best friend. He can see the panic in his eyes, and knowing him as well as he does he knows the saltiness is purely out of fear. “Look, he’s an ass, but he’s here to help. He’s a good friend and he knows what a drum is! I’ll be just off the stage anyway so _stop worrying_!”

 

“Who’s worrying about what now?” Jenna’s voice comes from behind them and a long slender arm reaches over Tyler’s shoulder and places a large tin of Red Bull down in front of him. She leans down after it and smacks a gentle kiss on his cheek, earning a slight side grin from the singer.

 

“I’ll give you three guesses, but if you say a name that doesn’t rhyme with ‘Ryler’ then you lose,” Josh jokes to the woman as she sits down next to her husband and her sister settles next to Josh – a little too close to him actually. Barbie giggles at him.

 

Josh looks at her, confused, because he knows what he has just said is in no way funny at all. “What are you two doing?” she asks them both, but intensely stares at Josh as she says it, her gaze making him just as uncomfortable again.

 

“Trying to work, any more stupid questions?” Tyler tells her, making it clear that further questions weren’t really an option.

 

Josh clears his throat and when the singer looks at him they have a silent conversation about how Tyler should maybe ease up on the anger at his extended family. “Sorry about Tyler,” he apologises for him. “He’s just nervous about the show,” he tells her with a reluctant smile, knowing that being any nicer would cause more unwanted attention.

 

“Where’s Kyle?” Jenna asks, taking a pinch of a cookie she had bought herself and throwing it in her mouth carefully.

 

“Yeah, why is he still here anyway? I mean like, he was just a guy you met once right, how has he managed to come on the tour with us,” Barbie asks, her distaste for the man clear on her face.

 

“Because I asked him to,” Josh tells her shortly. “And he’s gone off with Brendon,” he says to Jenna with a smile.

 

“Wow, you sure that was a good idea?” she jokes back, smiling widely. Josh looks at her worried and he can feel the lines of concern etching into his own forehead.

 

“I don’t know?” Josh says, very uncertain in his answer.

 

“If he comes back sane, he’s a keeper,” Jenna tells him matter of factly, and Josh’s eyes remain wide with fear.

 

“What does that mean? A keeper?” she asks the table at large and Tyler finally snaps at the inane questions and pressure on his shoulders.

 

“For crying out loud! I know you can’t be this stupid!” he shouts and growls frustratedly as he pulls his cap off his head, running his hands through his hair. “Kyle is with Josh, like with, with; like - they’re sleeping together,” he hisses at her, his hands gesturing wildly as he talks and Josh can feel the flush of redness and embarrassment spread up his neck and to his cheeks.

 

Everyone around them stops what they’re doing. People who were chatting and ordering drinks fall silent and they all look over at the small group of Americans.

 

“So…Josh won’t do the whole coming out fanfare, but I hadn’t thought about Tyler,” Brendon says to Kyle through the silence as they enter the bar area at exactly the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you guys think. I love all criticism, comments and theories! Let me know what you think might happen next!!
> 
> All your support for this has been awesome so I hope I can keep you entertained a bit longer. 
> 
> <33


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

“Aw fuck Josh, no! Don’t stop! Don’t you dare fucking stop!” Kyle almost screams as Josh fucks himself backwards onto his cock with fervour as if it was the best thing he had ever felt – which to Josh it really was.

 

This was the first time Kyle had even dared to go near him since the accident. Josh had no idea what Brendon had said to him when he took him out earlier, but whatever it was had definitely worked, because as soon as they had found themselves alone in Josh’s room, Kyle had gently pushed him down onto the bed and kissed him hard and deep. Despite his cast, Josh had made sure he was at least on his hands and knees when Kyle sheathed himself completely into him. Never one to just sit there and take anything, he loved being an active participant in sex, and with Kyle he was no different – in fact he loved to make his lover weak at the knees so he couldn’t even stand after he had peaked.

 

Josh could feel the familiar tingle in his spine and then Kyle stopped letting Josh lead and he angled himself in the perfect way that struck Josh’s prostate at the perfect angle for the drummer to scream out in ecstasy too. Without even being touched once on his own cock, Josh was spilling hot and fast on the sheet in front of him, and he could feel the heat of Kyle’s release filling the condom inside him as well.

 

“Geez, old man,” Josh says finally, breathless and panting and then wincing at the slight discomfort of Kyle pulling out of him. The other man’s long arms wrap tightly around him pulling him close and he tickles at his ribs at the nickname.

 

“Old man? Old fucking man?” Kyle asks him, an amused smile on his face as he starts to tickle his boyfriend, causing Josh to giggle loudly and writhe around to try and stop him.

 

“Stop! Ky! No please stop!!” he laughs at the movement and there’s a loud bang as the turquoise cast hits the end of the bed. “Aw crap,” he says as the tickling abruptly stops and he heaves the heaviness of his leg back up onto the bed.

 

“You should have let me do the work, babes,” Kyle tells him disapprovingly, frowning at the man now lying under him with his caramel coloured eyes looking back up at him.

 

Josh frowns and purses his lips back at him. “I have never once been one to lie there and let someone else do the work, wasn’t happening now,” he says matter of factly.

 

“Really? Had a lot of other sexual partners have we dear?” Kyle teases back and Josh blushes fiercely, knowing that he was relatively limited when it came to his sex life. “Don’t worry babes, just means I get to have all the good stuff,” he leans down to peck at his lips and then bite at the drummer’s gauges which he loved so much, before rolling off of the bed to go to the shower, offering a hand for Josh to help him get up too.

 

Having to keep Josh’s cast dry led to a severe lack of sexy times in the shower which upset both men thoroughly, but as they were due to be backstage for the evening’s performance in the next two hours it wasn’t as if they had time to do anything extra anyway.

 

Josh had spent the day following Tyler’s revelation with Brendon only and strategically avoiding his best friend. He felt bad about it, but he was annoyed that Tyler had outed him in the spectacular way in which he had, and anyway, Brendon had to be perfect for the shows.

 

So he had left Tyler to set up for the concert and he had concentrated on his own job. He hadn’t been on any social media since that day and so was oblivious to what was being said about him. His family had tried to contact him, but thankfully due to the time zone differences he was able to miss any concerns they had too. He would see them soon enough anyway, what with the Asian leg of the tour being postponed finally by the management team because of the accident. In fact, that evenings gig was to be the last for them until Josh had managed to heal.

 

That was how they had ended up in the green room that evening waiting for their cue to go onstage. Josh felt very weird not being in costume and had to double take when Brendon had walked in in his outfit.

 

“Ah, you lucky cocksucker, look who you could have had!” Brendon shouts as he wanders into the room, his phone in his hand and his face beaming wider than Josh had seen it in a while.  

 

Josh looks at his friend from where he was sitting. He had nabbed the leather sofa and was relaxing with Kyle’s arms wrapped around him, but the Brit was dozing lightly behind him and completely ignoring everything going on around him. The drummer smiles at his boyfriend and pecks a soft kiss on his cheek where his head was hooked over his shoulder.

 

“And, just FYI, you two are actually disgusting together,” Brendon continues as he saunters over to them and throws himself down on the end of the sofa to join him. “Look at this you fucker,” he says and throws his phone over to him, Josh expertly catching it from him.

 

_@taylorswift13 – sorry to hear @joshuadun is now taken…BY A GUY! Shame, was looking for a bad boy in my life…_

 

“Wow, that got around quickly,” Josh bites at his lower lip anxiously as he hands Brendon’s phone back to him.

 

“Nah, there were rumours,” Brendon says offhandedly as he clicks the screen off and shoves the handset in his pocket.

 

Josh sighs loudly enough to wake Kyle up from his doze. He shakes his head and looks around to see if anything had changed. He was due to leave in the next few hours after the concert had finished, and Josh was already feeling lost and alone even though he was still there.

 

“You alright sleeping beauty?” Josh says to him with a smile and Kyle reaches forward to capture his lips with his own, starting off chastely, but soon heating the kiss up when Josh clearly wanted more.

 

He demanded entry with his tongue and Kyle groaned as he opened up and let their tongues sweep together. He sucks at Josh’s lower lip and there is a soft pop as they finally pull apart. Brendon starts to gag next to them.

 

“Will you at least give me a warning next time you do that?” he looks at his friend accusingly and Josh just shrugs and sticks his tongue out at him with a wink. “And, when are you gonna talk to Tyler again, he’s beginning to piss me off,” he looks at one of his nails and picks at the loose skin next to it.

 

“Ty always seems to piss you off, I’m surprised you two are even friends,” Josh says to him, chuckling.

 

“Yeah, like, what’s that about anyway?” Kyle says just to Josh who just shrugs back at him.

 

“They’re too similar,” he says offhandedly as if it explained everything.

 

“I’m nothing like him!” Tyler exclaims, walking through the door, looking at his best friend with total shock.

 

“Stop eavesdropping and then you won’t hear things you don’t want to,” Josh looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Jishwa, please, I said I was sorry! Please stop ignoring me!” Tyler walks quickly over to the sofa and sinks to his knees in front of his friend, hands clasped together to show him how much he was sorry for what he had done.

 

“Tyler, I seriously think the only guy who should be on his knees in front of Josh is me at this point,” Kyle says as an aside to the singer, and got the most severe case of stink eye Josh thinks he’s ever seen Tyler give before.

 

Rolling his eyes, the pink haired man looks down on his friend after slapping Kyle lightly on his hand to admonish him too. “Tyler, dude, I forgave you that night, I’m just teaching you a lesson,” Josh tells him and rubs the singer’s head to mess up his hair.

 

“Don’t touch the hair Josh,” he ducks backwards, falling back onto his butt as his balance falls. “So we’re fine?”

 

“Sick as frick,” Josh tells him with a wink, and gets a squeeze from Kyle.

 

“Hey, beard,” Tyler looks at Kyle who frowns back at him. “Get me a red bull?” He poses it as a question, but with a tone that said he wasn’t really asking but telling him.

 

“Seriously?” Kyle raises an eyebrow and looks back at him.

 

“It’s fine,” Josh tells him. He knows his best friend and knows he wants to have some time alone with him.

 

“I’m not a fucking waitress,” Kyle mutters as he slides out from under the drummer and walks towards the door.

 

“But think of the tip you’re gonna get…” Josh winks as Kyle looks back at him and the glint returns to his boyfriend’s eyes as he understands what was being suggested.

 

“I told you to warn me!” Brendon almost screams as he rushes past to join Kyle, taking the hint that the band wanted a moment.

 

As the door shuts and silence fills the room, Tyler gets up off of the floor and plants himself next to Josh on the couch, still leaving a bit of space between them.

 

Josh scrunches his mouth to the side and looks at the singer expectantly. He raises an eyebrow as Tyler looks sheepishly back at him.

 

“I’m seriously sorry Jishwa,” he tells him finally.

 

“I know,” Josh replies simply. He did. He knew Tyler didn’t want to pull him out of the closet, and he hadn’t exactly been hiding his relationship recently, so he knew it was only a matter of time before someone slipped up. The problem was how publicly Tyler had done it. In the back of his mind Josh was seriously upset he hadn’t been allowed to do it himself, but he also knew deep down that he would never have actually said the words to anyone. At least now the secret was out and he could play it off like it was just like his previous relationship and not have to do a full ‘coming out’ conference.

 

So Tyler had outed him. Admittedly he had some explaining to do to the management, not that he thought FBR would be too worried what with all the different acts they represented. He knew he was going to have to deal with his family when he got home so that wasn’t news anyway. The problem now was the clique. He had no clue how they had reacted to any of it.

 

“You looked online?” Josh finally asks.

 

“Nope, you?”

 

The drummer shrugs and shakes his head. “Let’s make a pact,” Tyler says. “Let’s not look til after the gig, cool?”

 

He holds his hand out and Josh looks at it for a moment before nodding and starting their handshake. It ended as normal in a hug, but instead of letting go immediately, Tyler holds on for dear life. Josh can feel the tension in his shoulders and knows that his friend is feeling just as anxious about this as he is. And that’s where Brendon and Kyle find them, clutching onto one another for dear life as they walk back in with caffeine for both of them.

 

“Telling you, totally and utterly co-dependent,” Kyle says to Brendon with a smile.

 

“Dude, you’re the one sticking it to one of ‘em. You knew what you were getting into.” And the alarm sounds for the five minute signal for Tyler and Brendon to get onstage.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this is the perfect time to end this part....let me know if you want a second part. I have ideas, but need to know if you guys want to read it!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, commenting and kudosing...it's all love and i love every thing I see!!
> 
> <33


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